While The Incredibles' battle against conformity and mediocrity screams anti-oppression to some, it's obviously Randian to others. In that sense, the film is being touted as the latest proof that, on top of everything else, the right wing has even wit and creativity on its side these days: This is a world turned upside-down!This article {NOTE: link will be valid only until Wednesday) is more than a film review. It's a funny take on the differences in superheroes that appeal to the right and the left. The right likes their heroes to simply be out there fighting evil. The left likes them to be "conflicted".
The authors of this column, Suzy Hansen and Sheelah Kolhatkar, finish up with a discussion of the real life superheroes of the left – celebrities.
But if all the celebrities disappeared, who would the Democrats have left? Who would their spokespersons be? In the past year, the left had the Dixie Chicks telling Brits they were embarrassed to be from Texas; P. Diddy’s bizarre "Vote or Die" campaign; Michael Moore decrying American stupidity; Bruce Springsteen singing on the campaign trail; Paul Newman slumming it, knocking on doors.Empathy Man!!! That just about sums it up.
What kind of heroic, larger-than-life figure could occupy that Hollywood void? If Republican hero Curt Schilling, brave, bloody-ankled, faith-based athlete, challenged a liberal to fight, who could match him? A George Soros?
"I would be in favor of Empathy Man," said Mr. Rall. "The man who plants the seeds of empathy into the cold, stony heart of the average red-state American."
