I REFUSE

A Declaration of Cultural Independence

You can’t kill Superman.

I refuse to give you ground. You cannot break the Man of Steel, the Three-Quarters’ Century of Righteous Heroism struck from Seigel and Schuster’s veins, their immigrant innocence melding with patriot joy to create the ultimate Hero…

and you, with your smug insider knowledge and your pockets lined with self-righteous cash from back-room deals of cultural death panels -

I refuse to give you Breath.

You can’t break Batman - I refuse to give you hope. There is no erasing his past. The Great Detective, the Dark Knight Rising, from Bob Kane to Adam West to Frank Miller to Kevin Conroy, his legacy is determination against the darkness, rising with the call to overcome -

and you, with your smarmy accusations and high-pitched yowls of victimisation at the hands of Justice -

I refuse to give you Voice.

You can’t crush Captain America. I refuse to give you words. There is no rewriting History, for History happened and Men died to set Men Free - and you cannot crush that reality. From Lexington to the Alamo to Gettysburg to Pearl Harbour, you cannot deny the truth of Men such as these…

and you, with your perpetual smirk and your onanistic self-love, ever imposing your own face on the past to reject Honor -

I refuse to give you Thought.

You can’t destroy God. I refuse to give you space. You cannot touch what lives inside the Human Heart, the creation of Heroes, the Pantheons of great minds, of literature and art, the Portraits of Courage, the Vignettes of Valor written on a thousand eons of the Soul of Man -

and you, with your momentary wealth and delusions of godhood, you are but a speck of dust in the eye of the One True God, the Author of the Human Pageant, the Creator of Creation, the Maker of Man…

I refuse to give you Power.

You can’t own us. I refuse to give you permission. We are the Face of the Universe, the Work of His Hands, the Story of the Human Race; We are Authors of Epics, Composers of Songs, Rollers of Dice, Bards of Worlds, Smiths of Forges -

and you, with your hate of all things Holy, your horror of all things Free, with your grandiose visions of Life without us, without Faith, without Hope, without Love…

rage against the Light; scream against the Stars. You will fade into nothingness, and We will be free -

I refuse to give you Me.