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[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@Necrofamicon @1rosieleft @spacemankalel i am not going to get into an entire comic book but this post perfectly summarises everything i feel about the comic so no, even based on this one book 56 years ago, he's still not a racist. he's just unaware/ignorant
https://t.co/nEvOGuLKBu

[The LanternCast @lanterncast]

It's not my place to say what actions or words should or shouldn't be interpreted as racism by the racial group that finds them offensive.

That said, I think the people using Green Lantern/Green Arrow as definitive proof of Hal being racist to support their argument are missing the point of the series.

It's right there on the first page. When Denny O'Neil writes:

"For years he has been a proud man! He has worn the power ring of the Guardians, and used it well, and never doubted the righteousness of his cause. In the next dozen seconds, an event will occur which will signal the end of his grandeur, and the beginning of a long tormet. There will be no happy ending, for this is not a happy tale...nor a simple one. But what you are about to witness is, perhaps, inevitable. His name, of course, is Green Lantern and often he has vowed that, 'No evil shall escape my sight!' He has been fooling himself..."

Denny and Neal are saying that while the "next dozen seconds" start the journey, the path to realizing "he has been fooling himself" is the point of the series as a whole.

That Hal has been so focused on the big picture off-world that he's forgotten to apply his power to the nuances of his home world. So when the man on the roof in Green Lantern #76 asks, "Only there's skins you never bothered with, the black skins! I want to know, how come?! Answer me that, Mr. Green Lantern!" nobody is saying, "Hal you racist jackass. You've been ignoring the black people on purpose."

Denny and Neal aren't saying it. Nor is Oliver in the story, who brought him to the rooftop for that conversation. Oliver is showing him that he's missing the bigger picture and has been for a long time. Hell, Ollie even defiantly makes the same case to the Guardians of the Universe DIRECTLY.

So Oliver and Hal begin their Hard-Traveling Heroes journey across America, with a Guardian in tow, to reconnect with the problems of the people of Earth and really understand the nuances. To show things aren't as clear as Hal or the Guardians may think.

The series deals with that in lots of ways. Racial tensions are absolutely one. But so are overpopulation, environmentalism, poverty and wealth inequality, power imbalances, etc.

The series goes fairly hard at Hal and just keeps HITTING him with things he's been missing. But eventually, it turns the tables on Ollie and showcases the issues of drug usage. Hal gets to be the one to show Ollie that he's been missing his ward becoming a user right under his own nose.

When Guy is injured and the Guardians select John as the new backup and Hal balks, the Guardians say, "He has all due qualifications! And we are not interested in your petty bigotries." Hal immediately pushes back.

"HEY, that's NOT what I meant! Maybe he's brave, honest, and has the right kind of mind. But it's obvious he also has a chip on his shoulder the size of the rock of gibraltar!"

He says this because he sees some cops tell two men to move along. John gets involved and argues with the cops. This is another example of Hal missing the nuance of a situation. To Hal, it's not black vs. white, it's, "This guy has no respect for authority."

For Hal, the "rule of law" was absolute until around this series, and BECAUSE of this series, that changed. The whole "Hal is such a square" thing was essentially Hal's "defining" characteristic to some readers for a long time.

Denny and Neal saw a chance to revitalize the character for a modern audience while also simultaneously writing about the social issues of the day they themselves felt needed to be addressed.

And if you're looking for racists in Green Lantern/Green Arrow, they're there. Denny and Neal make no bones about hiding them. But Hal isn't one of them.

The entire POINT is that Hal has blind spots and that he doesn't understand everything. That being a good person who genuinely wants to help people doesn't mean you automatically understand every problem those people face. And the journey of Green Lantern/Green Arrow is about him (and Ollie and the Guardian) learning that.

Denny and Neal unfortunately aren't here anymore to defend it, but I will. Especially as someone who personally spoke with both of them before they passed about this very series and more.

What is happening in LANTERNS with things being interpreted into a modern context and whether or not the words and actions of those characters can be considered racist, or at the very least prejudiced? That's not my call to make.

Were Denny and Neal infallible? Absolutely not. Denny is the one responsible for depowering Wonder Woman and sending her on that martial arts journey in the 70's. The very story that social activist and feminist Gloria Steinem panned. Denny himself would later refer to it as one of his biggest professional blunders. But while Green Lantern/Green Arrow is about a wide breadth of things? It's not about Hal being a racist.

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@toasterdoggg @spacemankalel figure of speech man jesus christ. and he existed 67 years ago, do you want me to write the date of publication of every single comic before i make a tweet or what😭😭

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@MJandWrasslin @spacemankalel @dkmsully @Baggychip resorting to ableist slurs and insults and engaging in bigotry yourself while pretending to be a champion of woke, how ironic lmfaoooo

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@1rosieleft @spacemankalel i agree but why do you think that exact same logic doesn't apply to hal? if superman is not a racist for comics from 50 or so years ago then why is hal branded a racist by dc employees for out of context comics from 50 or so years ago?

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@PunishedMichail @spacemankalel completely true and this is not what i am arguing against. my entire point was just against branding a person who's a role model to millions of kids and as an outright racist. it's okay to show his privilege and his ignorance but the issue is branding him as a straight up racist

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@MJandWrasslin @spacemankalel @dkmsully @Baggychip it's not something that you throw around negligently for things as slight as this

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@MJandWrasslin @spacemankalel @dkmsully @Baggychip i am of an other race moron i'm not white. and ignorance ≠ racism. diluting the word racism to something where you brand a slightly ignorant person as racist causes much more harm to us poc than you think. racism is a serious issue that should have actual consequences in life

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@spacemankalel @dkmsully @Baggychip because there's an ocean of difference between a character being a bit flawed and being racist. no one is saying that hal jordan is some perfect saint, he's arrogant and brash and very flawed, but racism is a serious issue and not something you can just put off as midly flawed

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@dkmsully @spacemankalel @Baggychip forgetting all they've done for decades after that in most comics that people remember where they've never ever shown any signs of bigotry or racism. if we start doing that and nitpicking everything then literally all comic book characters are problematic in some way or form.

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@dkmsully @spacemankalel @Baggychip he's always been a bit ignorant and unaware of the racial biases and stuff on earth but that doesn't make him a racist and even if it's true i feel it is a disservice to a charecter to reduce them to something that happened in one or two issues 70 years ago and

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@spacemankalel this ignorance (in just a few issues in comics 50-60 years ago mind you) doesn't make him a bit racist. racism is a serious issue and it isn't an allegation which you just throw around for no reason and this is my entire issue with outright calling hal racist.

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@spacemankalel hal's ignorance towards human issues like racism isn't because of his complicity in it. it's because he mainly focuses on the green lanterns and issues at space and at that point doesn't really care about injustices happening in earth. which is something he changes later on

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@dkmsully @spacemankalel @Baggychip and that.....disproves which part of my post exactly???? "indeed a bit racist" is still "racist". just for an example if someone called you "indeed a bit racist" when you weren't a racist would you not be offended? or does that "bit" somehow make it ok???

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@spacemankalel @Baggychip "no one said hal is racist"

- literally a person working for dc itself.

it's great if you're trying to portray hal's ignorance over the racial privelege he has but when people from the studio outright calls him a racist for out of context panels of course people will be mad

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@tiiffycatAlt then why do they cheat on each other every 5 business days lmaoooo

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@thinkerjackpot for all his shortcomings that man loved mj more than anything and he would never have actually cheated on her of his own accord. he got drunk in the fame and ego as spider-man and was playing a part (which was wrong and misguided) but it was still just a performance.

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@thinkerjackpot she's worse because she "intentionally" kisses harry "as herself" while peter gets lost in the fame as spider-man and kisses gwen (which he sees as playing a part).

it's still bad but you know as well as i that he would never have kissed gwen as peter even if hell freezed over

[no username yet @SPIDEYCOUNTD0WN]

@VanillaCloak @PaulPooper2 @Stunt_ManMik3 genuinely cannot comprehend this way of thinking. like what if someone possessed you and had sex and got you pregnant. is that still okay because you didnt experience it? where do we draw the line? it's like saying SA is okay if you're drugged and don't experience it. crazy stuff