I try not to be a partisan hack. But it’s difficult. It always starts through our one or two most important, most personal issues. One side is just obviously right and the other so obviously wrong. And if they’re right about what we care about, they must be right about the other things they care about too.
The biggest problem with partisans is how easily we start to believe in black and white, when the real world is almost all grey.
There are two kinds of narratives in the books, comics, movies, and shows we consume: stories and propaganda.
Stories have nuance and depth, they show us something we didn’t know before. They show the grey. Propaganda stays superficial, only telling us what we already know. They portray nothing but black and white.
Let’s talk Geek Culture.
Of course X-Men is about civil rights. And the villains are civil rights activists. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get X-Men.
Of course the Empire in Star Wars is fascist. And the heroes are trying to take power from the central government and give it back to the local governments. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Wars.
Of course Star Trek is about equality for all people and accepting different cultures and working together for peace. And they accomplish this with a powerful military that rejects and combats cultures that are not compatible with peace. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Trek.
Of course Superman and Wonder Woman are immigrants. And they fight to protect us from the immigrants that threaten our way of life. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Superman and Wonder Woman.
The reason all these classic stories speak to people of all different political persuasions is because they tell the whole story. The reason so many modern reimaginings of these stories fail is because partisans have decided to take out the half of the truth that the “other side” supports, transforming story into propaganda. And propaganda is simply boring to every non-partisan.
The racists, sexists, and xenophobes already hate these stories for the exact reasons you elucidated. The right wingers who love them are right about things you are wrong about.
And if you can’t take a step back and contemplate the idea that you might not see everything there is to see, you just might be a partisan hack.
