After white supremacist Richard Spencer was cold-cocked at Trump’s inauguration in January, there’s been an on-again, off-again debate on social media over whether it’s OK to punch a Nazi. Although ethicist Randy Cohen, the longtime author of “The Ethicist,” said that it is not OK to punch a Nazi unprovoked, he believes it is OK “to watch and delight in those videos of a neo-Nazi getting punched.”
During World War II, comic book artists had no problem drawing scenarios where superheroes got the chance to throw a left hook at Hitler or one of his Nazi goons. According to The Comics Journal’s Caleb Mozzocco, a large portion of early comic writers and artists were Jewish and used their books to warn isolationist Americans about Hitler. They also used the medium as a form of “wish fulfillment” or “revenge fantasy” against the anti-Semites.
The U.S. government also used comic books to publish anti-Nazi propaganda during the war. The Writer’s War Board was a volunteer group of writers who, through the Office of War Information, contacted publishers about putting anti-Nazi themes in their books. “Comic book companies were willing accomplices to the WWB,” Historian Paul Hirsch said. Plus, cooperating with the government was good for business. “Publishers had to comply with wartime rationing of wood pulp, the essential ingredient in comic book paper,” Hirsch said. “A publisher in good standing that printed WWB-sanctioned stories might receive access to additional wood pulp, and sell more comic books.”
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Problematic homework question
A student’s brilliant homework answer outsmarted her teacher's ridiculously sexist question
From an early age, children absorb societal norms—including gender stereotypes. But one sharp 8-year-old from Birmingham, England, challenged a sexist homework question designed to reinforce outdated ideas.
An English teacher created a word puzzle with clues containing “UR.” One prompt read “Hospital Lady,” expecting students to answer “nurse.”
While most did, Yasmine wrote “surgeon”—a perfectly valid answer. Her father, Robert Sutcliffe, shared the incident on X (formerly Twitter), revealing the teacher had scribbled “or nurse” beside Yasmine’s response, revealing the biased expectation.
For Yasmine, the answer was obvious: both her parents are surgeons. Her perspective proves how representation shapes ambition. If children only see women as nurses, they internalize limits. But when they witness diversity—like female surgeons—they envision broader possibilities.
As Rebecca Brand noted in The Guardian: “Their developing minds are that little bit more unquestioning about what they see and hear on their screens. What message are we giving those impressionable minds about women? And how might we be cutting the ambitions of little girls short before they've even had the chance to develop properly?”
X users praised Yasmine while critiquing the question. Such subtle conditioning reinforces stereotypes early. Research confirms this: a study found children as young as four associate jobs with gender, with girls choosing “feminine” roles (e.g., nursing) and boys opting for “masculine” ones (e.g., engineering).
Even preschoolers avoided careers misaligned with their gender, proving sexist conditioning begins startlingly young.
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The problem spans globally. Data from 50 countries reveals that by age 15, girls disproportionately abandon math and science, while boys avoid caregiving fields like teaching and nursing. This segregation perpetuates stereotypes—women are underrepresented in STEM, and men in caregiving roles—creating a cycle that limits both genders.
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This article originally appeared last year.