The Most Popular Oxymoron I've Seen: Punisher and Blue Lives Matter

Frank Castle aka ‘The Punisher’ is my favorite Anti-Hero ever, I love the idea of an anti hero and most of my favorite comic and movie characters are Anti-Heros. The most comic books I’ve read are punisher comics and his live action appearance on The netflix shows ‘Daredevil’ and ‘The Punisher’ are some of my favorite shows. So when I see the now commonplace logo of his signature skull colored in blue lives matter flag style I immediately know that the person using that is an idiot. Yes I understand the skull looks cool but these two things crossing is just as stupid as Black Panther having the KKK cross on his chest.

One of the rules I have noticed with the punisher is that he goes after people who view themselves as above the law. Typically the people who think that they are above the law are people in law, government, or billionaire businessmen. Punisher has consistently since his creation as a spiderman villain in 1974 had his own villains be regular people who view themselves above the law. Just looking at the most popular iteration of the character, the one most people know, the netflix show version played by Jon Bernthal. The Villains of just the first season are, Agent Orange, a high up government official who ran a heroin ring using his military unit to get and move the heroin unbeknownst to them. Billy Russo a vet who works with Agent orange in covering up and manipulating agents at homeland security. Lewis Wilson, another vet who became indoctrinated by a Devout NRA member who wants to kill off any politician who talks about any kind of gun control. Just with those three you can start to get the sense of who Frank takes out. Frank is the last guy to stand up for the government to fight alongside potentially corrupt cops against everyday people. Frank kills people who need to be taken out of the system that regular people cannot get to, that's the kind of person he is.

So, how did his logo become adopted by cops and blue lives matter? I can’t say that I know for sure but I believe it is because of his support of guns, his military background and the fact a lot of people only know Frank as the comic book character that kills people. Frank seems like the kind of guy to be a hard core republican, he is a vet and is a hard believer of the 2nd amendment. Frank also knows that there were, are and will continue to be bad people who get into power who then use that power to do what they want letting no one get in their way, and he is the guy to stop those people. To clarify one thing, Frank is against the system of the high high ups not the low level people. Frank wouldn’t go around massacuring police stations and beat cops because they are cops. He does know with that power that their job holds cops are more likely to become corrupt and rotten with time. What Black lives matter is about is that everyone, no matter their skin color, religion, social status, deserves a fair and equal shot at being treated fairly which this country has not always been about. If Frank Castle was real and the punisher was actually somewhere out in the streets, I can tell you one thing, Officer Derek Chauvin wouldn’t be above ground right now.

If at this point you have dismissed me because you don’t think I am credible or don’t know the Punisher character well enough and you think the Punisher would support Blue lives matter. Here's a stance from a third party to break the tie. Gerry Conway the co-creator of the punisher character back in 1974 has said a few things about the Blue lives matter logo being crossed with his characters logo. Here are four quotes all spoken or tweeted by Gerry Conway. “To me, it’s disturbing whenever I see authority figures embracing Punisher iconography because the Punisher represents a failure of the justice system… so when cops put Punisher skulls on their cars or members of the military wear Punisher skull patches, they’re basically sid[ing] with an enemy of the system.” ”This character and symbol was never intended as a symbol of oppression. This is a symbol of a systematic failure of equal justice. It’s time to claim this symbol for the cause of equal justice and Black Lives Matter.” “For too long, symbols associated with a character I co-created have been co-opted by forces of oppression and to intimidate black Americans.” “He is an outlaw. He is a criminal. Police should not be embracing a criminal as their symbol.”

Gerry has called for people of color and anyone who supports Black Lives Matter to remake the logo to fit the "Fight against systemic injustice" that The Punisher is actually about a symbol of fighting against the odds and the oppression to truely become equal. I personally would have to agree, from here on out you too are invited to use the Black Lives Matter X Punisher Symbol, spread the word.