I remember as a history graduate student a good friend and fellow grad student proudly displayed a full size flag in his office. He told me never let them take that away from us. We have a ways to go but we can still be proud of what we have accomplished. We will get there.
‘Americana and old fashioned patriotism’ has been abandoned by the GOP’s move to Christian fundamentalism and Identity politics, it’s a no-brainer tactic from the Dems to populate a space that still resonates with a more than a significant demographic. UK Labour employed a similar tactic.
It's the patriotism that all those freed slaves who took the names of Washington and Jefferson knew--the patriotism of the ideals that transcend the very real flaws and shortcomings of their proponents, shortcomings these people understood as well as anyone.
This was one of the topics I spoke to Alex Ross and Steve Darnall about on my podcast when they were on to cover Uncle Sam. This is important and just and useful strategically.
I must’ve missed the speeches in 2016 in which the Dems denounced trickle down economics, and called out Dems who embraced it. I also missed the tax-the-rich ethos because it sure felt like the only one saying it were Sens Sanders/Warren. I am not feeling 2016 in this DNC.
I’m talking about the broadly generic “americana”; flag-waving, acronym-chanting, etc. Even the talking heads at the time noted the difference btwn the dnc and rnc cons as a tonal role reversal but ok gn
its what happens when you let them choose who they want to go with. even if they know its a depressing apartment with no box springs, no kitchen table, and tvs on milk crate cartons but it’s where there love is.
By making everything specifically about Trump the right left it all just laying there, it’s to the Harris campaign’s immense credit that they saw it, picked it up, and are running with it. They’re so fractally in array it’s still head-spinning.
The thing I always love about Superman is he will always be two young Jewish guys in the 1930’s asking “What if the most powerful man in the world was kind?”
Just mainlined My Adventures with Superman while I was sick and the show really gets this. Like at the end of a lot of episodes I thought yeah, this is the kind of thing two Jewish guys were getting at in 1938.
I really need to watch that. And catch up on the current run where he and Lois have adopted some alien refugee kids (hey, it worked great for him growing up).
With Hitler raving about the beyond-good-and-evil ubermensch over in Nazi Germany, Siegel and Shuster tried out the "evil Superman" concept in 1933 but decided to take a different approach the next time.
It rules. Another great thing is that half the plots were “hey you want to run a factory and steal money from the workers? Well what if I punch you really hard? How about that?”
In his third adventure, he hangs a US Senator by his foot over the Capitol Dome, until he confesses that he’s pushing for a war in Latin America at the behest of an arms dealer/war profiteer.
Finally, someone smarter than me observed that all revisionist takes on Superman — where he’s brutal or evil — are flawed because Superman IS ALREADY THE INVERSION OF THE TROPE.
“What if power was used for evil or selfishness” is not a question anyone on earth needs answered. We see it every day.
The thing I always love about Captain America is it’s two young Jewish guys in the 1930’s saying “Fuck Hitler.” And if you are going to come to the offices to threaten them Jack Kirby will ask you to wait ten minutes while he finishes drawing this page and then he’ll come down and stomp your ass.
I’m assuming you and others have read Kavalier & Clay?
for those that haven’t - it’s a fictionalized parallel to those Jewish 40s comic book creators. Featuring among other things an FBI raid and The Golem Of Prague.
Yeah, I need to reread it. It was about twenty years ago and my main issue wasn’t on the narrative or characters but with Chabon giving some of Kirby and Eisner’s (mostly Eisner) real world achievements to K and C.
But hopefully I have gotten less prickly about those two (and Steranko) not getting the credit they deserved. And hey maybe there are jokes I missed the first time around about how much Bob Kane and Roy Lichtenstein sucked.
The same issue (All Star Superman 10) where Clark creates a world where he does not exist and that world responds by creating the idea of him to save it is the same issue with THAT PAGE, which I am sure has helped multiple people in the real world not commit suicide. He’s a beautiful idea.
Probably because we ceded that ground to Republicans when they were allowed to frame themselves as "real Americans" and lay claim to what "American culture" is. Seeing Democrats reclaim that is absolutely a change!
They tried that in 2016, but it felt like “EVERYTHING IS FINE!” This is “we understand the problems, BUT ALSO THE PROMISE” and the difference is striking.
I still remember how lonely it felt around the time the Iraq War got going. The 2004 Simpsons episode “The Bart-Mangled Banner” featured a character calling himself “the last registered Democrat” - I really felt that at the time and never forgot it.
I'm happy about this, too, but feel the need to suggest that part of the problem has been a fear of nationalism on the left. Being wary of nationalism, sure, good idea, but I think that caution went too far.
Yes — striking but it’s not strange. The stereotype of Democrats uninterested in unity and patriotism has been shallow and unrepresentative for a LONG time. Barack Obama got that. It’s why his 2004 DNC message resonated and made him a star.
Imperialist patriotism is creepy. Things like 'viva Mexico' at the soccer game or 'Azerbaijan has the best fish' are fine. We need to wind down the US empire somehow while still appreciating some of the good things.
Now that Boomer Dems are finally yielding the field, we are leaving behind that generation of Dems that always conceded love of country to the GOP, long after the GOP declared its hatred for America and its ideals
It is those things but also the fact that liberals tend to be more educated & therefore cynical about US power & that is not limited to one generation.
Hopefully our side is tacking back to an optimistic view of America where we accept that the founders owned slaves but envisioned a better system.
Liberals have long made a huge mistake by ceding the symbols of American patriotism to the right. We have lost the Gadsden and Appeal to Heaven banners and the 3%ers are co-opting the Betsy Ross Flag. We need to stake claims to the rest and take those back.
My fellow lefty spouse and I had a hokey Americana kitsch themed wedding, and a friend gave us a beautiful handmade Betsy Ross flag throw as a wedding gift. I don't even know what box or closet it's hiding in these days...
This truly is the Harris campaign's masterstroke (so far).
MAGA has spent 8 years doodling blue lines, Punisher skulls, and crosses on their American flags because they want to redefine what the country stands for. It's about time Democrats pointed out how vain, impotent, and weird that effort is!
I always think of this quote about flag pins from a Viggo Mortensen interview during the Bush years: "I found out that anyone can wear one of these things."
It has seemed for a while that conservatives value the power of America, and having a dominant influence in the world. While my patriotism is in the principles, not the power. The Constitution is written to protect us from an authoritarian leader, while the GOP promotes that kind of leader.
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And then as Clark he breaks the story.
In the second adventure, he tells a domestic abuser he’s gonna beat the crap out of him.
The greatest hero.
“What if power was used for evil or selfishness” is not a question anyone on earth needs answered. We see it every day.
for those that haven’t - it’s a fictionalized parallel to those Jewish 40s comic book creators. Featuring among other things an FBI raid and The Golem Of Prague.
Hopefully our side is tacking back to an optimistic view of America where we accept that the founders owned slaves but envisioned a better system.
MAGA has spent 8 years doodling blue lines, Punisher skulls, and crosses on their American flags because they want to redefine what the country stands for. It's about time Democrats pointed out how vain, impotent, and weird that effort is!
White Christians do not exclusively occupy our patriotism, nor our Americana. These things belong to all of us, and we must claim our territory.