How does someone like Taylor Swift who is increasingly disliked by the MAGA right fit into this thesis? Couldn't you say that Taylor Swift is a hero in the Clark Kent sense?
Agree, I think much of this stems from postmodern literature, art and culture and then the rise of the actual anti hero in popular culture. Tony Soprano, Walter White, Frank Underwood, Jax Teller etc.
And to your point, an ideologically unaligned country by definition can’t have national heroes. So they memorialize victims and anti-hero’s, depending on what side of the aisle you’re on.
Doesn’t the west then need a group of ”avangers” assembled by Nick Fury? Or a suicide squad assembled by Amanda Waller?
To fight unnatural force of evil? Who essentially at best is just fighting against the destructive nature of humanity that lives in each of these hero charachters? Wheras in the east this type of leadership already exists and has erratigated the destructive nature of free will from society?
Had a hard time following the reasoning on this one.
I'm not sure, though, what is the set of people for whom Trump was at one time a hero and is now an anti-hero (easy to see examples for the other two). Expand, please? I mean, I know a few determined Republicans who used to have a fairly high opinion of him ca 2017-2018 and now do not, but I don't *think* they ever saw him as a "hero". Not sure I could get an honest answer from them today regarding their attitude 5-7 years ago.
"(And, worth noting, Kanye is also the richest self-made black American in history.)"
Presumably this is based on a carefully crafted definition of "self-made" that includes Ye and no other (e.g. a definition that does not include Oprah Winfrey, or for that matter Robert Smith or David Steward, both far richer than Oprah, or Jay-Z who is somewhere about the same at notional $2.5B)?
Or possibly/additionally a carefully crafted definition of "American", since the nine actual black American billionaires (according to a 2023 list that is: valuations have likely changed since) are not, AFAICT, Trump adjacent or at least mainstream/establishment hostile, which is required to be a Real American, I hear.
Then again, perhaps Ye and/or Our Host are using Trumpian valuation methods. Without seeing Ye's loan paperwork it's hard to say.
Ah, got it, I was supposed to take that statement of Our Host seriously but not remotely literally.
Anti-heroes or “rebels” also denote a (sometimes) ironic American patriotism. It’s both how we were founded and what tore us apart.
Great piece, thanks!
How does someone like Taylor Swift who is increasingly disliked by the MAGA right fit into this thesis? Couldn't you say that Taylor Swift is a hero in the Clark Kent sense?
Agree, I think much of this stems from postmodern literature, art and culture and then the rise of the actual anti hero in popular culture. Tony Soprano, Walter White, Frank Underwood, Jax Teller etc.
And to your point, an ideologically unaligned country by definition can’t have national heroes. So they memorialize victims and anti-hero’s, depending on what side of the aisle you’re on.
Good article
An interesting piece and I look forward to checking the book out. I wrote something connected to this which you may find interesting - https://medium.com/swlh/the-madness-of-genius-7f8f4fc3fc1c
Also, one small point but is Kanye really the richest self-made black person in America? What about Robert F. Smith? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Smith_(investor)
Doesn’t the west then need a group of ”avangers” assembled by Nick Fury? Or a suicide squad assembled by Amanda Waller?
To fight unnatural force of evil? Who essentially at best is just fighting against the destructive nature of humanity that lives in each of these hero charachters? Wheras in the east this type of leadership already exists and has erratigated the destructive nature of free will from society?
Had a hard time following the reasoning on this one.
Generally an excellent thesis statement - thanks!
I'm not sure, though, what is the set of people for whom Trump was at one time a hero and is now an anti-hero (easy to see examples for the other two). Expand, please? I mean, I know a few determined Republicans who used to have a fairly high opinion of him ca 2017-2018 and now do not, but I don't *think* they ever saw him as a "hero". Not sure I could get an honest answer from them today regarding their attitude 5-7 years ago.
"(And, worth noting, Kanye is also the richest self-made black American in history.)"
Presumably this is based on a carefully crafted definition of "self-made" that includes Ye and no other (e.g. a definition that does not include Oprah Winfrey, or for that matter Robert Smith or David Steward, both far richer than Oprah, or Jay-Z who is somewhere about the same at notional $2.5B)?
Or possibly/additionally a carefully crafted definition of "American", since the nine actual black American billionaires (according to a 2023 list that is: valuations have likely changed since) are not, AFAICT, Trump adjacent or at least mainstream/establishment hostile, which is required to be a Real American, I hear.
Then again, perhaps Ye and/or Our Host are using Trumpian valuation methods. Without seeing Ye's loan paperwork it's hard to say.
Ah, got it, I was supposed to take that statement of Our Host seriously but not remotely literally.
Is no one universally loved in the US? How about Dwayne (the Rock) Johnson?
Lol I suspect this one isnt going to land well with a lot of the readership
Isn’t Oprah also self made and like, 5x richer than Kanye?