Art vs. Culture: Where Have All The Heroes Gone?

I want you to imagine something for a moment.


Picture your favorite action movie hero, big gun, coat and hair blowing in the wind, dramatic pose, sunglasses. Confronted by a mob of passionate, angry people, perhaps framed for a crime he did not commit, our Hero is assailed with angry insults and epithets and slurs, many personally directed at him, perhaps some rocks or garbage is thrown at him, because the People have been convinced that he has committed some wrongdoing.


How do you expect your hero to act in these circumstances? Do you expect them to utilize Action Hero-Fu and escape the angry civilian mob with a minimum amount of regrettable force, relying on situational awareness and clever espionage techniques to make his getaway and go after the real bad guys?


Or would you be cool with it if Jason Bourne starts breaking random heads and crippling innocent people to make his getaway? After all, if the cops and paramedics are busy dealing with civilian casualties, it impedes their pursuit of him, right?


How bout if John McClane gets Wrongly Accused of a Crime He Didn't Commit and just starts blasting every NYPD Officer he comes across right in the face?


Why don't Batman and Spider-Man start using Science to chemically lobotomize (and possibly castrate) all the random civilians and private citizens who demonize or speak critically of them? Better yet, why doesn't Bruce Wayne just start buying up TV stations and newspapers and spreading pro-Batman propaganda?


Because Art is supposed to reflect Culture, and our collective culture dictates that Heroes and Good Guys act ethically and morally even under pressure. Characters that allow that morality to slip are called "dark heroes" or "anti-heroes".


Superman stops the missile from hitting the middle of Downtown Metropolis, even if it means Lex Luthor gets away (although in point of fact, with how fast Superman is, he can probably do both. But I digress).


Spider-Man's agony of accidentally killing Gwen Stacy is magnified by the fact that he let the Green Goblin get away in trying to do the Heroic thing and save her. It leads to one of the darker moments of early Spider-Man comics, in which he actually kills Norman Osborne in retaliation and faces YEARS of personal demons in the aftermath of that action.


Batman doesn't use guns, and he doesn't kill. Period. The few times that these rules have been broken have been treated as VERY big deals. Bruce Wayne trained his broken ass back up to top-shape just so he could take down Azrael-Batman after his replacement killed Abattoir.


We expect our heroes to act with discipline and restraint, to make the moral decisions under pressure and ultimately be Guardians. To choose safeguarding the Innocent and protecting People over personal vendettas and selfish pride.


So when did that expectation cease to extend to the real world? When did the Art get disconnected from the Culture?


In the comics, the guy in riot armor beating up unarmed civilians is clearly the bad guy. When Lt. Pike starts pepper spraying students at UC Davis, I would expect Spider-Man to come swooping in on a web, spitting a pepper-spray-based pun as he whups the crap out of the Officer.


In the comics, when riot police and SWAT teams and Sentinels are deployed against Mutant protesters, it's because many of those protesters can shoot lasers from their goddamn eyes and fart gas that can turn your skin inside out. One of the major moral conflicts in the X-Comics has always been the dilemma of equality and civil liberties for a group of people who are essentially always armed with potentially deadly weapons.


In most forms of Art, we idealize and glorify the Rebel, the person or people who break away from the group-think and stand up for what they believe in, no matter the cost. When did this get so badly disconnected from Culture that many people would approve of the corporate-and-right-wing-backed Tea Party while at the same time demonizing and disenfranchising the populist, left-wing Occupy Movement?


Our Hero is Neo, the One who frees us from mental slavery by an oppressive system, sacrificing his life in the process. Our Villain is the dastardly Cypher, who sells out his society to join the Haves.


Our Art places Truth and Rebellion over Lies and Complacency.


Our Hero is The Doctor, the "man who makes people better", creative and curious and ultimately a defensive pacifist, who talks and thinks before resorting to violent action. Our Villain is The Master, a man spawned from the same society as The Doctor but who embraces manipulation and cruelty as his methods.


Our Art places Compassion and Reason over Domination and Oppression.


Our Hero is Superman, the Alien-God who stands for Right and Good, the quintessential Guardian of Equality and Peace. Our Villain is Doomsday, the Alien-God literally evolved through science to be the living embodiment of Destruction and Death.


Our Art places Society and Justice over Chaos and Destruction.


Our Hero is Batman, who patrols the dangerous parts of Gotham City and acts as Protector of the Innocent and Guardian of the People. Our Villain is The Joker, a nihilistic psychopath who treats the world as a joke and watching it burn as the punchline.


Our Art places Peace and Prosperity over Anarchy and Madness.


In the real world, unarmed students are sprayed with noxious, painful chemicals for misdemeanor offenses by men clad in Riot Gear. When did our Culture become so disconnected from our Art?


In the real world, politicians act like real-life supervillains, holding the economy and social prosperity hostage for their personal legislative agendas. When did our Culture becomes so disconnected from our Art?


In the real world, octogenarians and clergymen and children are assaulted with chemical weapons and excessive roughness by the police, and the collective response of the Public is of nervous acceptance of generalized justification instead of outrage. When did our Culture become so disconnected from our Art?


In the real goddamn world, Senator Lindsay Graham says, ON THE RECORD, that people with burned/missing fingers or people who stockpile more than seven days worth of food and supplies in their homes could and should potentially be "suspected terrorists" under NDAA 2012, and the majority of the Country doesn't bat a fucking EYE. When the HELL did our Culture become so disconnected from our Art???


I think the problem is that we've idealized and deified our idea of the Hero archetype to the point of absurdity and unrealistic levels. And that's exactly how the Bad Guys want you to think. If Heroes and World Changers are "special" people, then they're part of an elite group that the Common Man could never hope to reach without significant luck and training and effort.


So why bother? Just be quiet, don't make a fuss, leave the heavy thinking to the smart people with their college degrees and legislative positions. Listen to Authority figures and don't research the issues for yourself. Let those Crazy Radicals get pepper sprayed in the streets for daring to express their opinions. Leave the Heroing to someone else.


Don't worry. I'm sure one will come along eventually.

NDAA: Where Are The Terrorists And Why Haven't We Heard About Them?

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/indefinite-detention-of-american-citizens-coming-soon-to-battlefield-u-s-a-20111209


See, this is why I don't buy the argument that the Occupy Movement are just a bunch of malcontent rabble-rouser anarchists (or whatever your preferred slur against them is). "Indefinite Detention" doesn't just mean a cop is gonna put you in a holding cell because you were a dick to him at a traffic stop; it means that anything you say or do that he deems "suspicious" is grounds for immediate arrest and detention. And his definition of "suspicious" is subjective. Make a joke he doesn't like? Grounds for arrest. Get pissed off because you're going to be late to a hot date (or family dinner... or a business meeting...) and raise your voice to him? Grounds for arrest. He doesn't like the political bumper sticker on your car? Yup, that's right; no "due process" for American citizens, he can fucking arrest you for that too, and what's more, he can do it without having to worry about EVER getting in trouble for it.

Some have said that Occupy shutting down the ports is misguided and an attack on the supply chains that will affect ordinary Americans more than the businesses and Elitists that are Occupy's real targets. While I see merit and logic in this argument, especially for essential goods like medicine and equipment needed to protect and safeguard lives, for the most part, America's commercial markets are largely over-saturated as it is. Nobody is going to starve to death because protesters disrupted the supply lines for a few days that wasn't going to already under the inequities of the current economic problems. And it will only be for a few days, at MOST, even if they send the cast of the Police Academy movies to break it up. The police have already demonstrated they have little issue with using pain compliance techniques against unarmed civilian protesters. There's absolutely no reason to believe that they won't turn up the volume now that protesters are committing bigger crimes than camping misdemeanors.

No, the Occupation of the Ports won't last long. Especially if the Government authorizes the Military to shoot anyone they deem to be a "domestic terrorist" resisting capture. Alarmist as that may sound, that's exactly the kind of authority the U.S. Government wants to give itself; what makes you think they won't use it? Terrorists don't have the rights of Citizens.

When there's legislation like NDAA on the verge of being passed, this is no longer a passive and reasonable Government being bullied by a mob. Declaring U.S. soil to be a legit "battlefield" means that all the rules that govern civilian conflict and detention and "due process" fly right out the window based on a completely different kind of subjective assessment with a completely different kind of oversight. You can ask anyone in the military or do a google search to find out just how different the rules of war are compared to the civilian sector. 

If America is now being declared a battleground, if the U.S. Government has essentially declared it's intentions to engage in warfare tactics against it's own people and bring the Military to bear for that purpose (which, by the nature of NDAA and the fact that it's provisions for protecting the rights of American Citizens were rejected outright, is what is being implicitly said), then the Occupiers are enemy combatants, and it's a common and thoroughly effective tactic of war to disrupt supply lines.

Not saying I agree with it. But in his excellent blog, Stonekettle Station (which, if you aren't reading, you're sorely missing out), Jim Wright points out, "No technique works if it isn't used."

I also happen to agree with Jim that in reasonable circumstances the electoral process should be engaged before attempts at populist revolution, because it's the agreed-upon system in place to make these kinds of systemic changes. I also agree that the United States isn't anywhere NEAR oppressing it's people to the point that a full-scale public uprising is any kind of justified. But this legislation is a huge step in that direction. There isn't *time* to go through the electoral process; this shit is going on RIGHT NOW. This is *exactly* the right time for public protest and outrage. No, we don't need a violent revolution and overthrowing of the Government, but people SHOULD be pissed off and outraged that this kind of legislation is being slammed through this quickly. Maybe I'm out of the loop or something, but I don't recall hearing all that much about these bills as recently as last MONTH. That's a DISTURBINGLY short amount of time for something this major to be getting pushed through. Even the Patriot Act was a special case, enacted in the hysteria directly following 9/11. What's the excuse for this one? What Terrorist threats exist on American soil today that need to be fought this urgently that the U.S. Government needs the power to use military forces against them?

I see things like NDAA, and the parts of my genetic and cultural memory that remember Concentration Camps, Gas Chambers, and the Warsaw Ghetto start poking at me. I can't help but recall how the Nazi party worked to disenfranchise and demonize the people they later rounded up and shipped off. There have been BOOKSHELVES written about how ordinary people wish they had spoken up for the people around them who were being marginalized and taken away, how they should have been more active in opposing the tightening Fascist control, how even people at the top levels of society were eventually disenfranchised because they didn't fit precisely with the Nazi model. I can't help but wonder how far the Nazi party would have gotten if groups like Occupy and Anonymous existed back then to engage them in informational and social warfare on the scale that the modern era is capable of.

Granted, I also recognize that the socioeconomic, political, and cultural atmospheres of modern America and mid-20th century Europe are NOT the same. But many of the same economic and political trends are comparible, and one of the first adages I learned as a child was, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

We're not at the point where violent revolution is necessary yet, and we sure as hell aren't living in a fascist police state. And hopefully, thanks to the combined efforts of Occupy and Anonymous causing activist disruption and public outcry in cyber- and meatspace, in CONJUNCTION with the use of the electoral process, we never will be.