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I agree with the point about Quentin wanting to be Xavier. Wolverine describes Quentin as having a half-baked manifesto - but couldn't the same be said of Xavier? Quentin may seem like a caricature of an anarchist activist at times (though I'm sure that's deliberate) - but his rebellion is another means of exposing the dark side of Xavier's dream.
Quentin's philosophy and actions mirror Xavier's. He's doing what the professor did years ago when he formed the X-Men - developing his own mutant agenda, gathering a group of young mutants together and decking them out in weird but near identical costumes. (Note Morrison has made the X-Men's uniforms near identical, as they were originally.)
Xavier has accused Quentin of unethically influencing the minds of those around him - but he’s just as guilty of that. Consider how he dealt with the terrorists in NXM 133 - he could have telepathically sedated them but instead brainwashes them to alter their beliefs – and makes sure the Indian police won’t torture them. On the one level this seems like the act of a pacifist but really this is the X-Men operating as the though police. Quentin's actions simply take this to murderous extremes - telepathically entrapping bigoted humans.
The hijack incident also shows how Xavier is increasingly ready to intervene/meddle in affairs that have nothing to do with human/mutant relations. Preventing a massacre may be a good thing but since when has Xavier been an expert on world politics - what does he know about Kashmir?
The Riot arc really shows the wisdom of killing off Magneto - as the Institute's agenda has completely changed. Xavier is now the world's only mutant superpower, he has bases and strike teams around the world (the X-Corporation) and can monitor all of humanity through Cerebra – his own version of Eschelon.
But like the US, the X-men are struggling to deal with their growing responsibilities and new threats. US foreign/defence policy was for years based on engaging a nation state with a huge standing army (be that Russia or Iraq) and has been completely caught off guard by a terrorist network which cannot be defeated by flattening a country with airstrikes or invading it with huge numbers of ground forces. (A senior US general revealed that Pentagon strategists cheated when he took on the role of al qaida in top-level war games - they refloated battleships he sunk with small gunboats.)
As the world's only superpower the US has become used to getting other countries to play by its rules - and doesn't seem to realise that the American way (at least Bush's take on it) isn't the only way, or the right one. The same could be said of Xavier and his dream. He's out of touch with the new generation of mutants - just as Bush doesn't understand the aspirations of the developing world.
Xavier's dream is as Lilandra says in NXM 133 just 'hopes and words'. Anyone can dream of Utopia but has he come up with any practical way of achieving it other than taking in more students? His double standards are appalling - and as a result he risks being as feared by humanity as Magneto ever was. Like Bush, he's hesitant at fighting a battle with someone who has the same weapons as him - Quentin Quire's omega level telepathy here presenting the same challenge as North Korea's nuclear weapons. Note while Xavier’s happy to manipulate the minds of dangerous humans he hesitates at probing the thoughts of his students, even when he realises some of them are murderers.
So the X-Men are sitting while a bunch of killers go on the rampage under their noses. It's another way of showing how impotent Xavier's dream really is - or at least how easily it can be manipulated and twisted. Fantomex did much the same thing when claiming asylum at the X-Corporation in Paris. This is rather ironic considering that with Magneto dead Xavier's never been more powerful in terms of exposure, influence and popularity.
Fantomex has also shown how more complex Xavier's role is now - he could have avoided taking in a criminal by telling him to seek sanctuary with Magneto before. Are the X-Men vigilantes, a mutant pressure group, a multinational franchise, a peacekeeping force, or a government?
This leads on to one explanation of why Quentin’s gang are portrayed as drug users. It shows how the X-Men’s responsibilities have radically altered - they're not just about protecting mutants from humans, or protecting the world from evil mutants, but now have to deal with the consequences of social problems like drug abuse. In dealing with Cassandra the X-Men rejected handing her over to the human authorities but they have not come up with an alternative system to deal with violent and disturbed pupils.
The X-Men’s new responsibilities also raise questions about their fitness as leaders. It's one thing to have a murderer (Emma) and an assassin (Wolverine) on your team when your actions are limited to defending mutants from attack, but when you start acting as the political representatives for mutantkind it's a liability – consider the criticism that has dogged Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland whose leaders include former terrorists. But Gerry Adams doesn’t have the luxury of being able to erase people’s memories if one of his colleagues publicly attacks someone – as Jean does when Emma messes with the mind of one of the journalists during the telepathic press conference in the Imperial arc.
This again shows how Xavier's dream has become more aggressive. During Claremont’s first run when it was repeatedly pointed out that he considered such telepathic manipulation unethical. In the Dark Phoenix saga Scott and Storm were worried that Jean was turning evil when she mindwipped Kitty's father but her recent actions and those of the two other telepaths have gone unquestioned by their colleagues. We even have Emma teaching the students to probe the minds of celebrities to uncover their secrets – titillating, and a comment on our obsession with celebrity culture, but highly unethical.
Rather than redefining his dream, Xavier seems to be letting others redefine it for him – whether that’s Emma or Quentin. He even sees Cassandra’s actions as a terrible means to a good end. The outcome of the Riot seems certain to push Xavier towards a more Hawkish stance – the next arc is Assault on Weapon Plus.
The other main impact will be to expose the generational clash between the X-Men and their students. The original team could be regarded as first generation immigrants keen to integrate with a society that fears and ostracises them. But the second or third generation has lost patience with the ways of their parents - they demand respect and establish their own ghettos (mutant town).
This is perhaps another reason for introducing the kick – or should that be crack – plotline. How many drug dealers and gangsters from ethnic minorities have excused their actions by arguing that it’s the best way for them to gain wealth and respect in a society that affords them few opportunities? Similarly mutants are still ostracised so why not take a drug that makes you far more powerful rather than studying to use your powers for the good of all humanity?
The other point here is who developed this drug. Consider how black activists have claimed that the US government flooded their communities with drugs to destroy them. What better way for humans to justify cracking down on mutant emancipation than to flood their communities with drugs that turn them into murderers. |
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