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Friday 7 September 2012
The first Arab-American Superhero
Time was when the go-to nationality for villains in US pop culture was British (see careers of Malcolm McDowell, Steven Berkoff, Alan Rickman etc.), but since 9/11 Arabs, and Muslims in particular, have been bearing the brunt of the stereotype. Will the newest member of DC Comics' Green Lantern Corps change all that?
Like his creator Geoff Johns, Simon Baz has Lebanese roots and hails from Detroit. Unlike Johns, Baz takes to stealing cars when he's laid off from his engineering job. The character will also be used to show how post 9/11 Islamophobia has impacted ordinary Arab-American families.
DC's previous stabs at ethnic and cultural diversity haven't all gone swimmingly. In 1976, they introduced the first African-American addition to the Legion of Super-Heroes. Unfortunately, he was a borderline racist stereotype called Tyroc, whose ultimate fate was to found a segregationist island off the coast of Africa for black people. Hmmm...
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A worrying new face of the terror threat to the UK
Kim Sengupta -
Grace Dent: I’m not sure how these people can avoid being called ‘bigots’. And the more ‘civilised’, the worse they are
Grace Dent -
After woman sells virginity for $780,000, here are the results of our prostitution survey
Laura Davis -
The Daily Cartoon
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Woolwich attack: The EDL might have a sinister plan as a soldier is murdered in suspected Islamic terrorist attack
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