This thread had become the most interesting thread I ever read.
All Magneto wanted was peace and harmony for both humans and mutants. Why is this a bad thing to accomplish? And I think to accomplish things like that you must has to scare them let say.......... Declaring war so they can stop the hating and killing mutants. Also, war is not genocide. Declaring war on a group is not the same as calling for the eradication of a group. The United States has declared war on England, Mexico, and Japan, but we have not called for the utter annihilation of their people. The deaths of the Germans, Italians, and Japanese were regrettably necessary in the World War II, but none of the Allied governments had any interest in wiping the German, Japanese, and Italians from the face of the planet as a whole. As much as people would like to deny it, there is little about war that is methodical. One can prepare for war methodically, but once you are in the fight anything can and does happen and the rest of the war is spent reacting. They were mere acts of violent racism, not necessary to the war effort of any nation or group.
So where then do Magneto’s acts fall? First of all, Magneto has never stated that eradicating humanity was what he wanted. He regretted frequently that the deaths of humans may be necessary to achieve his goals of mutant protection, but he does not want to erase them as a whole from the surface of the world. “It is a true human tragedy Ferris, when a man holds salvation in his grip, and it too blind to see it. Given the chance they would see our kind swept from the earth. I…do not want this Ferris, but they have forced my hand. There can never be peace.” (X-Men # 85, and yes I think the irony was intentional).
In the case of the EMP in X-Men #25, there was a declared state of war. Magneto had made no aggressive moves (except towards the X-Men, who struck first when Magneto came to recruit them) when the U.N. blockaded the mutant colony of Avalon with a system of satellites. Magneto used the EMP to knock out the satellites, the side effect of which was the deaths of thousands planetside. It is not a “proportionate response”, but then what country does engage in proportionate response in a war? The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki certainly were not. The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. held the world hostage in their Mexican standoff for 50 years, the smallest friction between the two raising the specter of planetary annihilation. Had a Russian ballistic missile submarine launched nuclear warheads at the United States as they did at Magneto in Uncanny #150, the U.S. wouldn't have merely sunk the sub as Magneto did. They would have nuked Russia. The Fatal Attractions EMP was an act of war just as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acts of war.
It is also noteworthy that these deaths were wholly indiscriminate, mutants probably died along with humans in that incident, as would have been the case had the nuclear bomb gone off in Santo Marco or New York. Nor were those two nuclear bombs a methodical means of wiping humanity from the globe. They were cowardly, they would have been heinous incidents of terrorism and mass murder, but they were not acts of genocide. And as noted above, when Magneto has had the opportunity with countries under his control, he did even not engage in segregation, let alone enact genocidal programs. He did not haul the Genoshan humans out of their homes and have them shot. He kicked a few political and social leaders out of the country and most of the rest were free to leave or stay as they wished. (Admittedly, he did temporarily hold some humans on Genosha during the war to continue their work to maintain the infrastructure, however after Genosha got on its feet they were free to leave. This hardly qualifies as "genocidal behavior".) Indeed, even when he got to have his "dream world" in House of M, humans were still a part of it, still living and working side by side with mutants.
Magneto is not a nice man, but then global politics is not a nice place. While he has tried to moderate his responses on a couple occasions, such when he created the volcano in Varykino in Uncanny #150 he retarded its growth to allow for the evacuation of the city, more often his rage lashes out indiscriminately, and despite the claim he made Secret Wars I #1, he has killed innocents. But then so has every other country that has engaged in a war.
Magneto is not the monster people intended him to be. If you see the war that has occurred with humans against mutants, is no different if Magneto declare war on them in order to create peace. AND there were peace. There were peace and harmony between them until the sentinels came along in destroying the mutants paradise. Killed many mutants and humans and Magneto does not has anything.... ANYTHING to do with those death. But put it this way..........if Magneto wouldn't do what he did, I'm sure humans would've made their first move to kill all the mutants. I guess someone needed to make the first move since this was coming from either way. Magneto is understandable and a complete justifiable. Me, a mutant, I bet my ass would be with Magneto. Who wouldn't want to live in that beautiful place so called........Genosha? This place was so beautiful, no militants, no fighting, and all peaceful. Hopefully we get to see Magneto and Polaris building up Genosha once again. I'm really excited for this one.
I'm glad I found this site.
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