Comic books have long been one of my guilty pleasures, and I offer no apology for them. For me, at their best, they are just a less refined but more colorful version of the grand myths and legends humanity has always looked to for inspiration. Heracles, after all, was a sort of superhero.
I never liked Captain America as a kid, because he seemed like a platitude draped in patriotism. I began to see, however, that Steve Rogers is above all else a man guided by a moral compass, and he puts his money where his mouth is.
This panel, actually appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #537 as part of the larger Civil War story, makes me smile, and it makes me nod in approval. I no longer have the issue in front of me, but I believe it was written by none other than J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5.
A fellow once posted this on one of the Stoic forums as an example of Stoic values, only to be told by some that it was hardly Stoic at all, because it was so distinctly American in its voice, and because Rogers says its all about what you believe, and not about what is virtuous.
I am far more amenable to the Stoicism connection. I can hardly imagine Seneca or Marcus Aurelius not loving Rome, even as they also loved all of humanity, and the context of the passage makes it clear to me that true conscience is informed by the measure of right and wrong, and is not just about whatever we might happen to want.
Your mileage may vary, but I understand this through a Stoic lens, and not as jingoism or relativism.
Written in 9/2015
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