My god that is a disturbing blend of ideas. That the rabble rousing Hannity is the future savior of the United States can only be called the product of a fascist imagination.
It reminds of Nazi art idolizing Adolf in bizarre contexts, like the Hitler White Knight portrait. (This link also goes into the idea of fascist idolizing, but i just now googled it for the image, so if it fits its sort of serendipity.) Although i believe said image was actually a portrait made by an anonymous German soldier captured by the Allies, and not actually meant for propaganda. In a way, kind of like the cyborg-Hannity link.
Not to divert the Cyborg-Hannity thread early on, but…
When you think about virulent opposition to and fears about globalization i think it’s clear America is not that different a country than it was 60 or 70 years ago. Isolationism still strikes a profoundly deep chord with many today as though it were simply part of our cultural heritage to regard the collective interests of foreign powers as insidious, perfidious, and undemocratic. Back in the days before WW1 and 2, when the European powers were militaristic, nationalistic, chaveunistic and monarchial, such distrust seemed well founded. Today it seems more and more a cultural meme of a bygone era that refuses to die. What has changed is our incorporation of old world militarism into our own national identity.
I think future historians will regard the Cold War as one of the most crucial transformative events in American history; sort of like the Marian reforms militarised the political process and transformed Roman society.
Before the Cold War America regarded a standing military with distaste, and even after WW1 catapulted America on to the world stage as a contending Superpower there was little interest in expanding that status as a military power. The post-war military was dramatically scaled back. Even after WW2 there was the same kind of pell-mell demobilization and axious return to “normalcy”.
But as the Cold War evolved a large standing military and a permenant military-industrial complex became essential to contesting the perceived Soviet juggernaugt. A powerful centralized authority with this enormous capacity for warfare, and the expectation that such warfare was inevitable, pervaded throughout society for generations.
And i think the spark to what today is called “American Exceptionalism” began around Vietnam. I can imagine a historian from the future writing something like:
[i]"Even though the rejection and dissent regarding the Vietnam War transformed American society, the military-industrial complex that propelled American militarism remained. America was deeply humiliated by the only defeat in her history, and the embers of this humiliation long slumbered in anguish. These elements of society that kept the flames of the memory of this defeat burning developed a belief that it was modern social amorality and unpatriotic disinterest (if not liberal propaganda) within American society that sabotaged what should have been an obvious and inevitable American victory.
The military-industrial complex was also deeply humiliated by the Vietnam war, and they turned with great energy into forging the most powerful and efficient military power in the world.
The end of the Cold War and the first Gulf War allowed these embers to return and enflame the whole country. The reluctance and fear most Americans had towards military campaigns was relieved at the speed and efficiency of the Cold War military’s crushing defeat of Iraq, allowing the US to emerge as the last Superpower after a century of nations battling for that status. This unforseen military power transformed the country, long indoctrinated for generations by the Cold War stalemate into the inevitablity of war, into an enthusiastic proponent of the military. As the decade wore on preserving this military invincibility became a paramount concern, and any threat to this absolutism a direct threat to the country.[/i]"
Such is my overly elaborate interpretation of Marvel’s Cyborg-Hannity vs. the Commie Liberals. :).