I wouldn't know, sir.
The idealized heroes of the 40's date back from a time when it was maybe more clear-cut who the bad guys and the good guys were (on the radio and in the comic books, that is). The villains of that era were easily identifiable: they were the one "disturbing the peace."
It is perhaps a sign of our times that today's heroes (or anti-heroes) are more ambivalent: more often than not they are the one "disturbing the peace" now.
Maybe "The peace" had not yet acquired back then the same sinister association with authoritarianism (where ordinary citizens have less significant share in state decision-making), than it does now.
It could be that people have grown more circumspect, or more cynical about the world they live in.
Half a century or so, marked by fascism, totalitarianism, Vietnam, Nixon, Iran-Contra-Gate and whathaveyou, and the invasion of Iraq, will do that to you. Not to mention the recent Global Financial Crisis.
Clearly, "law and order" has come to take a very different meaning whether it is uttered by the Lone Ranger, or Nurse Mildred Ratched (McMurphy's nemesis in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), or the Norsefire party in V for Vendetta.
Possibly, people have become more informed (to a degree) about the robber barons of their times.
Or not.
As Abraham Lincoln famously put it, Yes, you can.
"Fool some of the people all of the time," sir.
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I love the Time Warp (^o^)
ReplyDeleteRiffRaff:
It's astounding;
Time is fleeting;
Madness takes its toll.
But listen closely...
Magenta:
Not for very much longer.
RiffRaff:
I've got to keep control.
I remember doing the time-warp
Drinking those moments when
The Blackness would hit me
Magenta:
And the void would be calling...
Transylvanians:
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Narrator:
It's just a jump to the left.
All:
And then a step to the right.
Narrator:
Put your hands on your hips.
All:
You bring your knees in tight.
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Magenta:
It's so dreamy, oh fantasy free me.
So you can't see me, no, not at all.
In another dimension, with
voyeuristic intention,
Well secluded, I see all.
RiffRaff:
With a bit of a mind flip
Magenta:
You're into the time slip.
RiffRaff:
And nothing can ever be the same.
Magenta:
You're spaced out on sensation.
RiffRaff:
Like you're under sedation.
All:
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Columbia:
Well I was walking down the street
just a-having a think
When a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink.
He shook-a me up, he took me by surprise.
He had a pickup truck, and the devil's eyes.
He stared at me and I felt a change.
Time meant nothing, never would again.
All:
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Narrator:
It's just a jump to the left.
All:
And then a step to the right.
Narrator:
Put your hands on your hips.
All:
You bring your knees in tight.
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Two things in life you can't fight are poverty and stupidity. The tea baggers are unstoppable unless we can come up with something stupider than what they already think that will appeal to them.
ReplyDelete