July 17, 2009

America ’s Super Villains

 

The outlaw personality has never ceased to capture the American imagination. One of the great romances in the American culture is with its Wild West days. This romance has spawned considerable literature and movies featuring cowboys and Indians and also, most notably, fixation and, in effect, glamorization of outlaw figures. Names such as Jesse James, Billy the Kid, John Wesley Hardin, and the Wild Bunch, stand out.

The cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement agencies and fugitives on the run trying to evade capture has been the stuff of legends. It has also provided rich material for fiction. Sometimes, the fantasy of fiction has merged with factual characters. In comic books, which have been the staple diet in America for generations, the figure of Superman who is supposed to fight for “truth, justice, and the American way” has often been countered by the evil professor Lex Luthor. Likewise, Batman who is fighting crime in Gotham City meets his match through villains like the Joker and the Riddler.

Recognizing the American fascination with outlaws or those proclaimed as such, one of America’s most influential singers, Johnny Cash, used to dress in black and carefully cultivated a romantic aura of an outlaw to enhance his public mystique.

In the international arena, US policy-makers have built on this platform to project a super villain before the American public. During the 1960’s, at the peak of the Cold War, it was Khrushchev and Castro. In the 70’s, it was Arafat. In the 80’s, it was Khomeini and Gaddafi. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90’s presented the dilemma of developing new foes. The Red Menace was replaced by the Green Menace. Saddam Hussein came along in 1990, following his threats to Israel and his invasion of Kuwait, which made him a ready-made bogey-man. In the post-9/11 era, it has been Osama.

Villains fill a socio-cultural as well as a simplistic policy need. The outlaw creed has a hold on the popular imagination as it is often perceived to be tougher, faster, and smarter than the establishment. And its success sometimes in evading capture and bamboozling its pursuers further adds to its appeal.

The most current evidence of the continuing American fixation with outlaws is the major movie, just released in July, called “Public Enemies” which is on the life and times of the 1930’s Depression Era bank robber John Dillinger, who was declared as “Public Enemy Number 1” by the founding director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. That era, when banks were foreclosing on homes because of the inability of homeowners to pay back loans they owed to banks, sparked gangsters like Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Machine Gun Kelly, and others.

Sometimes, in the US, the outlaw image has been inflated and its impact has been exaggerated to justify law enforcement excesses at home and the imperial over-stepping abroad of its “military-industrial complex” – about which President Eisenhower had warned in his farewell address of January 17, 1961.

While the focus remains on the outlaw, the man with the badge and those operating with official authority sometimes evade critical scrutiny and, consequently, find it easier to get away with more glaring abuses. Hence, there is much greater acceptance of state violence than for non-state violence.

Today’s cure can become tomorrow’s curse. If the villains are meant to get what they deserve, then what about those operating under the cover of the state security apparatus?

The age-old question persists: Who will guard the guards?