Conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart once said, “Politics is downstream from culture.” Human smega Steve Bannon took his late mentor’s astute understanding of America to heart and has spent years using the media and culture wars to advance his white nationalist agenda.
To distract from their failed, disastrous policies, Republicans have invested most of their time and money over the past two decades into creating a 24-7 manufactured outrage campaign against phantom menaces to keep their base perpetually angry and afraid. We’ve witnessed news channels and newspapers of record spend precious airtime and ink on the non-existent war on Christmas and how Teletubbies are allegedly making your kids gay and how Dr. Seuss is being “cancelled” and how M&M’s are now woke and how Black Little Mermaids are replacing Western civilization.
You can laugh at the idiocy, and you should always laugh, but it would be a mistake to ignore the pernicious and influential impact the right-wing culture war has in both radicalizing communities and winning elections. Their latest target? Superman. You know, that undocumented immigrant, a literal alien, who crash landed in Kansas, was raised by kind farmers, and decided to use his awesome powers to fight for the marginalized against an evil, corporate billionaire.
“I mean, Superman is the story of America. An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country,” writer and director James Gunn told the Times of London ahead of his film’s premiere this week. “But for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost."
In normal times, all of us, regardless of our politicial inclinations, would nod our heads and agree. I mean, anyone who has read a Superman comic, seen the cartoon, or watched the movies understands the backstory and ethos of one of the most beloved, influential and well-known superheroes ever created. Well, not anymore thanks to Donald Trump, MAGA and the modern conservative movement who campaign on cruelty against immigrants of color and seek to make America, and Europe, “white” again through any self-destructive means necessary.
Journalist Parker Molloy, editor of the excellent The New Age Substack, published a fantastic piece on Tuesday charting the creation of the latest right-wing outrage over Superman. I invited her to discuss what the right-wing culture wars reveal about modern GOP politics and why they’ve been so successful at moving the Overton window due to the affirmative action policies in place for conservative grievances. Later in our conversation, we were joined by comedian and commentator W. Kamau Bell who expanded on how the right-wing’s war on “woke” has successfully bullied Hollywood and corporate media to abandon communities of color in service of a MAGA minority.
Give us a watch!
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