You know, as the mid-term elections draw nearer and the rhetoric on all sides of the political spectrum becomes dumber and dumber I cannot help but think there must be a reason for it all. There has always been a certain level of hysteria right under the surface of American politics. This hysteria erupts from time to time, but it rarely affects the general course of events very greatly. The cold war days of the "red scare' and the cries of "Who lost China?!" might excite the permanently or easily excitable, but they were never really important. The important political work was still getting done no matter how shrill the discourse on the fringes became.
Today, I'm not so sure. Each side holds such ridiculous views of the other side, it becomes difficult to fathom it. One could spend an hour every day going to Memeorandum and reading "opinions" that could only be described as "comically absurd." Yet, these notions are being taken seriously. And, each side feels justified in their own ideas because of the lunacy of how they were depicted by their opposition.
Indeed, the story lines that get trotted out resemble less the well worn patterns of political discourse that make up our shared history, and more the fantastic hyperbole of comic book superheroes. Think about it: Each side views itself as basically noble, though maybe not without its inner conflicts - which are needed to confirm their nobility anyway - while the other is made up of individuals who are nothing but evil, insane, and hell bent on total domination. Etc.
Maybe none of this would have happened if Marvel hadn't started to make all those damn superhero movies.
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