This scene involves two technical workers at the television station who operate the cameras discussing the interview with Reverend William Stryker and Professor Charles Xavier. The man on the left asks the man on the right if he thinks Xavier is making a good argument for the mutants. The man on the right hears Xavier's argument, but he acknowledges that Stryker appeals to the audience's weaknesses with his charm. The tech man on the right expressed fear regarding Stryker's views: "Too bad--, cause the man's message is pretty damn scary." This statement proved to me that not everyone was for Stryker, but nobody was bold enough to stand up against his incorrect use of condemnation of all mutants by scripture.As the story progressed I saw more examples of division among non-mutants about the issue of discrimination against mutants as shown in the panel below. The "normal" humans seem to be following Stryker like blind sheep, but some start to realize an eerie resemblace to another catastrophic event which is reported in this news broadcast: "It is one thing, they note, to criticize government policy and the moral state of the nation, quite another to single out a specific group of people and brand them as literally less than human. To many, it betokens an attitude uncomfortably reminiscent of that held in Nazi Germany against the Jews." News reporters normally comment on how the majority of the country feels about a trending topic or political situation. The interview with Stryker and Xavier which occurred earlier in the story seems to have gone in Stryker's favor, but this statement from the same reporter who conducted that interview shows a change of heart among society members.
The panel to the right shows two law enforcement officials discussing the recent events that occurred at Stryker's grand sermon. This scene shows that some people who agreed with Stryker at first are starting to open their eyes and see the unorthodox approach that he has taken. The cop on the left computes what Stryker is trying to feed society and expresses concern: "Crowd's eatin' it up. I dunno, partner, that preacher scares me." He seems to be contemplating the sermon's contents and comprehending the heinous message of Stryker's teachings.
The scene in the middle of the panel above shows a clear distinction among the opinions of non-mutant people about the treatment of mutants. One man blames the mutants for Stryker killing one of his henchwomen, and one man incites an attack on Magneto. The division occurred when one man actually listened to Magneto, and observed Stryker's actions: "Wait a minute--what he's sayin' makes sense!" This split between agreeing and siding with Stryker's views and methods and disagreeing and taking a stand against the injustices is a constant theme throughout the story.
In conclusion, I saw many themes that I could have blogged about and made a great argument for, but the division among "normal" people about their views on how to deal with the mutants is a subject that made its mark on this entire novel. Stryker attempted to unite all people who were not mutants under a biblically based discrimination policy, but some people realized that Stryker's methods were contradictory to the scriptures. The seperation among non-mutants based on their position on the treatment of mutants is a monumentous theme that could not be ignored.
