One of the main characters from “Top 10” popular #comic book series, created by Alan Moore and Gene Ha, is detective John Corbeau, alias “King Peacock”. His nickname and distinctive attribute – a peacock’s tail attached to his back ¬– are taken from the Malak Ṭāʾūs (the “Peacock Angel”), main divine being from Yazidi’s religion. Indeed, #detective Corbeau, hired in the Police Department in the fictional city of Neopolis (FA), devoted husband and good father for three #children, is also a zealous adherent of Yazidism. While other characters from the multiversal #police forces use to consider him as a servant of the devil, using a fiendish power in his work, his acts present him as a spotless figure, faithful companion, fully devoted to his struggle against crime.
The fact still remains, however, that this popular #culture text underpins and spread the common and potentially harmful misunderstanding according to which the “Peacock Angel” figure from Yazidism is actually a Judeo-Christian and #Muslim Satan. This false conviction, which bases on misinterpretation of the story of the Malak Ṭāʾūs’s rejection to fulfill God’s command to bow down to forefather Adam (Yazidis consider this command as a test and its refusal as an act of loyalty), was a motive and an excuse for persecutions and attempted genocides of Yazidi people, driven by the religious prejudices and narrow-minded #fundamentalism. It’s a good thing that popular culture creates a representation of #minority groups and faces serious #social and cultural issues, however, above all, it should do it in a responsible and thoughtful way.