President Donald Trump told Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele he wanted to send "homegrown criminals" to El Salvador next and encouraged Bukele to build more prisons.
Dividing themselves on social media, arguing in echo chambers about identity politics, watching ever more violent professionally-filmed acclaimed series about intrigue, betrayals, power struggle, and post-apocalyptic dystopias. They’ve been watching an ungodly number of movies about superheroes and supervillains violently duking it out while the weak, passive, and powerless population watches helplessly…and the good guys usually win, leading the normies into a false sense of security that some higher power always watches over them and comes to their rescue.
Many have been watching 24/7 Faux Noose and OAN and allowed the televised onslaught of rhetoric to brainwash them into becoming party line repeating stations. The so-called second amendment advocates mostly seem to be in this camp (ironically, the camp that also seems to value the rise of tyranny, despite their claims of the 2A being an insurance policy).
Meanwhile, their opposition has been watching, waiting, and hoping the rule of law will hold the guilty accountable and restore that which is good for society, as they see it (i.e. rule of law being the omnipotent superhero). They feel dispassionate about most of ‘their’ political candidates, which aren’t all that rousing (minus a handful of the more passionate and competent with social media ones, which aren’t favorites of the DNC). There are many, many interest groups trapped in a competitive race to the bottom hoping to appear the most vulnerable, in-need, and important so as to receive the most attention and subsidies/grants/benefits.
Meanwhile, follow the money- corporate America wants fewer regulations and the ability to exploit labor as much as it can to maximize majority shareholder wealth.
And then there’s the foreign influence from powerful countries who would love to watch America collapse…
I don’t agree with your view of superheros. I think they work as a metaphor of any person brave enough to stand up to evil. People never imagine they are the powerless population. The films focus on the heros and people personify with them - it’s inspirational. There has also been a big stress on heros needing to team up lately. The movies did nothing wrong.
I agree with everything else though.
Super heroes are an individualist power fantasy. In the real world , real power comes from groups and collective action. Super hero stories imagine a world where the power to do good resides in the individual.
I believe it’s a reaction to our powerlessness in the face of things like this.
But even to take action in a group, you have to make the individual decision to join. You have to chose for yourself, which takes individual bravery, because even if you’re part of a group, the responsibility and potential repercussions will be yours to deal with. A group always consists of individual people. I read superhero stories as stories about finding the bravery in yourself (the superpower) to go and join the good cause despite the terrible danger.
You can have impact personally. That’s why many people hesitate to join a group and actually do something - they don’t understand only if they are personally active they can matter. Not doing anything because a person feels like activity is not realistic makes people resigned and idle.
Edit: I do understand your feeling of needing to have an impact. It’s important to understand what kind of activity is worth devoting ones self to. I personally feel motivated to be active when I watch superhero movies, so I guess it can have different effects on different people. As always, things are not black and white.
I think superhero movies, as well all the many movies where a team of misfits overcome their difficulties to save the day when the USA faces disaster, are just American self-mythologizing. Americans like stories that show how deep down they are strong and sensible and when the chips are down they come together as a team to take care of the world, but in reality they’re not that at all. The problem is they believe their own myths.
Dividing themselves on social media, arguing in echo chambers about identity politics, watching ever more violent professionally-filmed acclaimed series about intrigue, betrayals, power struggle, and post-apocalyptic dystopias. They’ve been watching an ungodly number of movies about superheroes and supervillains violently duking it out while the weak, passive, and powerless population watches helplessly…and the good guys usually win, leading the normies into a false sense of security that some higher power always watches over them and comes to their rescue.
Many have been watching 24/7 Faux Noose and OAN and allowed the televised onslaught of rhetoric to brainwash them into becoming party line repeating stations. The so-called second amendment advocates mostly seem to be in this camp (ironically, the camp that also seems to value the rise of tyranny, despite their claims of the 2A being an insurance policy).
Meanwhile, their opposition has been watching, waiting, and hoping the rule of law will hold the guilty accountable and restore that which is good for society, as they see it (i.e. rule of law being the omnipotent superhero). They feel dispassionate about most of ‘their’ political candidates, which aren’t all that rousing (minus a handful of the more passionate and competent with social media ones, which aren’t favorites of the DNC). There are many, many interest groups trapped in a competitive race to the bottom hoping to appear the most vulnerable, in-need, and important so as to receive the most attention and subsidies/grants/benefits.
Meanwhile, follow the money- corporate America wants fewer regulations and the ability to exploit labor as much as it can to maximize majority shareholder wealth.
And then there’s the foreign influence from powerful countries who would love to watch America collapse…
My question was rhetorical but yeah, magats are fucking losers and the dnc is fucking impotent
I don’t agree with your view of superheros. I think they work as a metaphor of any person brave enough to stand up to evil. People never imagine they are the powerless population. The films focus on the heros and people personify with them - it’s inspirational. There has also been a big stress on heros needing to team up lately. The movies did nothing wrong. I agree with everything else though.
Super heroes are an individualist power fantasy. In the real world , real power comes from groups and collective action. Super hero stories imagine a world where the power to do good resides in the individual.
I believe it’s a reaction to our powerlessness in the face of things like this.
But even to take action in a group, you have to make the individual decision to join. You have to chose for yourself, which takes individual bravery, because even if you’re part of a group, the responsibility and potential repercussions will be yours to deal with. A group always consists of individual people. I read superhero stories as stories about finding the bravery in yourself (the superpower) to go and join the good cause despite the terrible danger.
I agree with what you’re saying, philosophically. A group is just a framework we put around individuals. That’s how it works in the real world.
But the idea of being able to have an impact on my own has a special appeal for me personally. It’s not a practical thing, which is why it’s escapism.
You can have impact personally. That’s why many people hesitate to join a group and actually do something - they don’t understand only if they are personally active they can matter. Not doing anything because a person feels like activity is not realistic makes people resigned and idle.
Edit: I do understand your feeling of needing to have an impact. It’s important to understand what kind of activity is worth devoting ones self to. I personally feel motivated to be active when I watch superhero movies, so I guess it can have different effects on different people. As always, things are not black and white.
I think superhero movies, as well all the many movies where a team of misfits overcome their difficulties to save the day when the USA faces disaster, are just American self-mythologizing. Americans like stories that show how deep down they are strong and sensible and when the chips are down they come together as a team to take care of the world, but in reality they’re not that at all. The problem is they believe their own myths.