Politics Is Our Superhero Complex
In light of the turbulence of our recent election season and its unfolding implications, I wanted to make a connection with one of the chapters from The Shape of Joy.
In Part 1 of the book there is a chapter entitled "The Superhero Complex," which takes its cue from the podcast hosted by David Weinberg. Weinburg's podcast recounts a crazy time in Seattle where people were showing up downtown dressed as Superman and Batman as "real-life superheroes" combatting crime. In analyzing the real-life superhero phenomenon in The Shape of Joy, I use the work of Ernest Becker who argued that human life is motivated by a quest for the heroic, some pathway toward value, purpose, meaning, and significance.
Sometimes our quest for the heroic drives people to dress up like Spiderman, but the chapter pushes on to explore a variety of other examples of what I call "hero games." I talk about conspiracy theories (like QAnon), fan culture, Christian end times beliefs, virtue signaling on Twitter, and social justice activism, to name a few things. In each case I analyze how the pursuit of a heroic identity sits at the heart of pathologies we observe all around us. Relevant to the recent election, the chapter also goes on to describe how politics has become the biggest hero game we're all playing. Which explains why our politics has become so angry and polarized, along with the huge emotional swings we experience and witness in the wake of electoral successes and failures.
As I argue in The Shape of Joy, as our culture becomes increasing post-Christian our politics has become the repository of our most deeply held values and commitments. Evangelical Christians, for example, are more interested in following Donald Trump than Jesus Christ. The same dynamic happens on the Christian left where being a social justice warrior comes to eclipse the faith. Religious identity has become, on both right and left, a political identity. Consequently, politics has become for us the arena of heroic moral performance. Politics is the hero game we play to achieve a sense of purpose, meaning, and significance.
This, of course, raises the psychological and existential stakes of politics. Politics is no longer a pragmatic tool used to solve social problems. Politics has become an expression of identity. Politics is our superhero complex, and it's this complex that sits at the root of so many of our social and cultural pathologies.
“Politics has become an expression of identity.”
Yep - it seems it where people find their righteousness. Almost as if your vote has become like recitation of the creed.
I find nearly everything about Trump abhorrent, as well as the support he gets from the mostly white evangelical church. I don’t believe the kingdom of God comes top down from left or right - it has to come from within and is outwardly expressed in love in action (joy, peace patience…)
Lots of people have been left behind by both sides of the political spectrum, and the populist has provided enough of them with an avenue to shout loud enough. In a way, the mission (sent-ness) of the church should always be those left behind by society, and had that been the case rather than putting so much store in the politics of power, then maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Historically, when hope and promise are unfulfilled, the energy that creates leads to revolution. If the people continue to feel unheard, and become desperate enough, that’s where this will end up.
I see what you're saying, but that assumes that all sides or options are equal, which has not been the case for the last 8-10 years. If we had an election between Kamala Harris and literally ANY OTHER normal Republican, people would not be reacting this way. Republicans could have chosen or aligned themselves with Nikki Haley, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, or other Republicans who have the same general priorities -- the economy, immigration, crime -- but who have not been convicted of a felony, sent a mob to storm the capital, left their own vice president to be hanged by a mob. There are many other Republicans who have not been found liable for rape, who have not said they will be "a dictator on day one." Voters did not choose any of those other Republicans.
Not only that, but Trump is THE ONLY PRESIDENT in the history of the United States who has trouble accepting the peaceful transfer of power. THE ONLY ONE. Nothing about authoritarian Trumpism is normal for America -- until now.
Additionally, politics is often where heroes are actually made: the suffragists fighting for decades for the rights of women to vote. Civil rights leaders marching on Selma. All the lawmakers who voted for the Affordable Care Act.