Captain America and the US Psyche

Wow…almost forgot I had this. To all the new people coming from Slacktivist, welcome.

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I noticed something regarding the United States citizens’ psyche, and it’s not a new phenomenon; other cultures and ancient cultures have done this as well.

I think there’s almost a psychological need for the people of this country to want to be heroes. Be it through just simple comic-book daydreams, (to which I am fully guilty of), military prowess, or even political upheaval, there’s something ingrained in our common psyche that demands heroism.

Unfortunately, this is not always explored constructively.

Be it through innocent misunderstandings or malicious action, the US collective psyche needs a villain. Examples include Nazis in World War II, the Russians during the Cold War, or Islamic Terrorists in the modern day, I honestly think that we as a country are always looking for an external threat to respond to. Now, some of these threats are very legitimate, (no one will argue that the Axis powers weren’t dangerous,) but I would venture to say that most in the modern day are blown out of proportion.

When we can’t find external threats to turn into villains, we turn inwards. This is evidenced at one time or another, various groups of people untied by a demographic feature become the all-out villain to fight against.

Examples of this include the anti-Catholic riots of the 1840s; the racial hatred leading up to and past the Civil Rights movement, and dare I say it, the Manifest Destiny mindset that allowed abuses of the Native Americans for generations.

In more modern terms, looking inward has been spurred into a frenzy by the media pundits, who’s sole function seems to be the advocation of a complete “us or them” mentality. To borrow from John Stewart of The Daily Show, people like Glenn Beck have irresponsibly turned legitimate concerns about the Obama administration into an impending apocalypse.

Now, I will be fair here, Keith Olberman seems to be just as equally guilty on the other side of his own dangerous rhetoric. However, within the last several years, the conservatives have become much more vitriolic.

The obvious result of all of this is the recent Tea Party movement. The Tea Party sees itself as the “true” United States, and any one who disagrees in the slightest is a treasonous fool. They have become the “hero” in their own minds, fighting against the “villain” of anyone who is not them. Whether their enemies are actual socialists, or merely people who happen to take a lesser stance on the so-called values that the Tea Party says that they extol is irrelevant. They are the villain, and must be stopped, no matter what.

Before I get any farther let me say the obvious disclaimer. No, not all of the Tea Partiers are the type who throw bricks through windows, spit on Congressmen, hurl racial or homophobic slurs, or mail unidentified white powders to the offices of elected officials. There is probably a bloc of the Tea Partiers who are far saner than that. But like the GOP politicians they often support, I have yet to hear widespread condemnation of these acts, and instead mere excuses from those who would also identity with the group.

My point is, that these people are so desperate for a villain, rather than engage in a civil version of the political process, they’ve resorted to the absolute worst versions of behavior they can employ, all in their pursuit of being the hero. I have no doubt that some, if not most, of these people honestly think that what they’re doing is the right thing to save the country.

But as long as they continue to wave “Don’t tread on me” and treat their more left-leaning brethren as inhuman dogs, I doubt that any of their arguments will sway their more common sense neighbors.

What concerns me is that as long as media pundits continue to push groups like this farther and farther away from sanity and compromise, and more and more towards exclusivity, eventually said groups will hit critical mass and we will see bloodshed. I just hope that the usually silent voice of the Moderate Majority can keep that from happening.