Superman promotes fascism

Every few days I stop by WatchingAmerica to find out what the foreign press is saying about us. Sometimes they have nice things to say, sometimes not so much. The June 29th edition of Pakistan’s The Nation ran a column concerned with the overtly fascist nature of the Superman hero. The release of the new Superman movie proves, absolutely, that we’re being indoctrinated by this movie and the Superman hero is the creation of fascist minds to aid Bush’s fascist agenda. (I don’t know the personal politics of Superman’s creators, way back in 1933 before Bush was even a gleam in his daddy’s eyes, but they sounded harmless.) How else could it be, though? Superman fights evil-doers and breaks every law of physics and saves America, yet again. With force and violence. The columnist says, “It all boils down to the promotion of Bush’s fascist doctrine, both inside and outside America.”

It’s quite a read with mind bending leaps of mental derring-do. Sort of like Superman. There are enough points of fact in the column to tie the other crack pot ideas together into what might be mistaken for a sound argument.

We obviously don’t corner the market on misinformed columnists. Unfortunately, people read this stuff. And without a basis for understanding cultural concepts like...oh...fantasy or science fiction or super heroes or comic books...Pakistani people might even believe the columnist’s contention that Superman is our popularly embraced symbol of American fascism. Cultural complexities be damned. Much the same, I think, as what happens when some folks read columnists in the US expounding on the evils of a culture they know little about. Cuts both ways.