Rebels

When I see people here in Washington wearing clothing with Obama's name or putting an image of him on their building I shake my head not primarily because I think they are wrong, but because:

• Idolizing politicians is weird
• It's gutless

The first point is obvious but the second perhaps less so. Quite simply, advertising your left-wing beliefs and credentials, especially in a city that is literally 90% Democratic like D.C., doesn't win you any medals for bravery. It isn't bold or original. It means that you are merely going with the flow and prevailing opinion. You're just like everyone else.

This is worth pointing out because I suspect that so many on the left view themselves as iconoclastic rebels willing to challenge the established orthodoxy. They are brave and original thinkers who view everything with a critical eye, accepting nothing at face value.

Please.

Advertising your left-wing bonafides places you firmly within the establishment -- and I don't mean simply because the Democrats have control of the House, Senate and White House. Being a lefty Democrat means that you agree with 90% of Hollywood celebrities. It means agreeing with the New York Times and urban sophisticates of D.C. and NYC that read it. It means falling in line with allegedly chic, cutting edge publications like Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.

It means being on the same side as most comedians such as John Stewart and other purveyors of popular culture. It means that the fare produced by Hollywood and celebrated documentarians like Michael Moore such as Rendition, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Fast Food Nation confirms your worldview. Being left-wing means that you can watch An Inconvenient Truth, pretend you are fully informed about global warming and then dismiss your opponents with a wave of the hand. On college campuses you can go to class and know that opinions are likely to match up with those of your professors. You can wear a t-shirt with the picture of a murderer on it and escape any sort of criticism. The list is almost endless.

In contrast, think about what it means to be of the political right. You are presumed to be a dunce, a religious nut, a greedy corporate type or some combination thereof. You are a suspect racist and homophobe. You probably don't care about the environment or the protection of children. And of course you are the object of scorn from most of the leading lights of our culture mentioned in the previous paragraph. In short, you are a reactionary that stands in the way of the obvious progress called for by those on the left.

Given these realities, who are the real rebels? Which is the more daring position? As this column says:

Lefty politics are no longer the fringe and no matter if the voters knew it or not they carved lefty politics into stone. Bill Ayers became the system he once fought against. Sure, they still wear the earring and say “fuck” a lot to maintain street-cred among the academics, but now rock has taken sides — it is for the establishment. Same with journalism, the university and pop-culture. The left has become a cliché. They’re not “Arrested Development” they’re “Golden Girls” with a soul patch. Snore.

Now that the art nerds and punks just became the football jocks and prom queens, a new rebel is emerging from the wilderness. They are the new anti-establishment. One minority force bands together against every other branch of government swallowed by the Democrat octopus. The last evidence of a check or balance against the popular people are now the Conservative Republicans.

The arts have failed. They no longer keep mass culture in check with thought-provoking art that challenges the establishment. Now they’re in charge of spreading the mainstream mandate of the Liberal Vatican. There isn’t an original thought among them, just a thousand-mile stare, a blue logo and the drone-like vocabulary of emotive, vaguely inspiring chants.

While this is about rock music, it could be applied to so many aspects of popular culture.