So. Things are bad right now. Really bad. Each morning it seems brings some new fresh hell to make America and the world wonder exactly how far off the rails we’re gonna go before this train stops. But no matter how strange things get, there will always be those willing to stand up, to help, to fight. To paraphrase the late, great Mr. Fred Rogers you should always look for the helpers. And in this case, one of those helpers is another Rogers… Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America. Or at least his real life counterpart, Chris Evans.
I’ve joked before that Chris Evans actually is secretly Captain America, but in recent days Evans’ has really lived up to his superhero namesake on Twitter, taking a hard line against the Trump administration’s “extreme vetting” of Muslim immigrants from seven Middle Eastern and African countries.
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/825779155753054208
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/825496375425069056
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/825489224690380800
Now, there will be some who say Chris Evans is a celebrity and as such, should stick to entertaining us and stay out of politics. But when the current President was the host of Celebrity Apprentice and one of the most lauded Republican Presidents began his career as an actor, that point is pretty moot. And it’s not like Captain Ameri— Chris Evans is a Johnny-come-lately to hot topic political buttons. The Marvel actor has been drawing his line in the sand on social media since at least June of last year when he stood in solidarity with the congressional sit-in for gun control measures.
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/745710630003445761
Since then, he’s supported a new generation raising awareness about climate change and stood up for the rights of Native Americans at Standing Rock. He’s even supported the troops by going on a USO tour in the Middle East.
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/747090840141561856
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/794683894717104128
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/806595127443496960
Captain America was created by two Jewish men in 1941 as a patriotic superhero to be a bulwark against encroaching fear and xenophobia. Over seven decades later, the persecuted minority may have shifted from Jews to Muslims, but the rhetoric of hate remains the same. Whether he means to or not, Chris Evans is living up to his fictional alter ego. And I, for one, look forward to all the Captain America ads that will inevitably run during his presidential campaign in two decades.