They *want* to be scared. That's why they watch Fox News and live vicariously through its hosts (who get chauffeured to work everyday from the suburbs). They *want* the fantasy of blowing away anyone who looks at them cross-eyed.
They always shout endlessly about their "freedoms" yet their commitment to "democracy" is paper-thin.
They want a big strong daddy (like Trump -- who was famously a shit dad who hates his kids, who, in return, use him). Of course the big strong daddy will not be mean to THEM, only to those other people.
Right, the fantasy is to be the bully someday, but in the meantime, be the bully's sidekick who sneers at the victim, "You better do what he said! Boss doesn't mess around. Right, boss?" Imagine how good it must feel when the boss nods ever so slightly at something YOU said!
Dictatorship is now fine, because folks took "freedom" and got a little bit too free with it, what with the pronouns and the quiet quitting and not goin' to church, not to mention the woke corporations, so now someone's got to hitch up his pants and step in and make some law and order, though with a tear in his eye because he's not cruel, he's just Doing What Needs To Be Done.
Oh boo-hoo, GOPers -- I was trying to descend to my station in Center City, two am, in full drag, and turned the corner to find a houseless guy pissing in front of the station door. He was fucking midstream & no stopping him, and since he was not blocking the door, I chose my dainty steps carefully — & he said "Watch your step, miss" as I passed by.
I mean gross, but good manners -- and absolutely not the end of the world. A gurl will get by.
Insert rant about how our "classless" society is more like a caste system than ever, and the homeless are our Untouchables. Much like Roy's comment about crime, we're fascinated and horrified by them, the "irredeemable" who've been cast into the Outer Darkness. Almost like "we" can't imagine Living Like That to the extent that they're a different species (homo sapiens dumpsterus) and thus they're valid targets.
I’m not sure about the caste system. There *are* castes — MAGAts, corrupting special interests and the rest of Big Business. But the three combined I don’t think add up to to many people.
The rest of the populists have in common only that they’re being screwed by the three noted above, or combination of same. I don’t think that group of the screwed are a caste.
I started the Wilkerson book and got quickly bored because I really, really don’t believe our exceptional racism can be ignored.
“I just saw a homeless guy pull his dick out and pee..." Yeah, I don't want to see it either. But you pass laws to make it harder for the unhoused to fulfill their basic needs so...what? You can lock them up? Run them out of town? Then what? Where's all that mental health assistance Greg Abbott et al are willing to lavish on the public?
Oh, it's a special kind of "thoughts and prayers" mental health assistance that Greg Abbot offers. After each mass shooting, he sincerely wishes your mental health would improve, potential mass killer. Wishes HARD, at least for a little while.
Somewhere, techbros are working out a sensor that detects whether the coffee or beer you're pissing out was bought at THAT establishment, if not, a big clampy thing swings down and...
To be fair, having public restrooms can lead to homeless folks camping out in them. This is a problem in my little rural town, and some business owners have ended up having to call in the cops when the homeless person (or persons) threatened violence and refused to leave.
In a humane society, we'd make sure there is shelter--not shelters--for those who have no home. But we're definitely NOT humane here.
But then, it's not so much the nation as corrupted politicians and the unhinged part of the GOP base and the politicians who serve them to the exclusion of the majority of the nation.
One thing I note about that rudepundit entry is that he's so angry he forgets to swear, or be profane in his usual sense. Clearly, the situation is profane enough as it is.
He does. It’s funny that when he started, he was saying the same stuff as other libs. Now he cranks it out when something triggers his passion. The profanity adds emphasis IMO.
It is absolutely a fantasy, played by people (men) who would, quite rightly, either run or duck for cover if they were ever in actual physical danger. And deep down they probably know this about themselves, which helps fuel their fury when one of their heroes like Penny is criticized or may be called to account for his actions. Nobody ever cancelled or prosecuted Clint Eastwood. No one ever has to resort to retaining a criminal defense attorney in Call of Duty. Whenever things are brought down to earth and reality, it harshes their buzz because they want to live in a Ready Player One world.
Of course race and class and privilege are very much a part of it, but even in its purest form the Killer Nerd mentality is a huge part of it too.
Many of these types I know IRL worship the military but would never serve -- too dangerous, but also don't want somebody else telling them what to do. In other words, a Chief, not an Indian, an unwilling to do the work to earn the move from the former to the latter.
I had two cousins who washed out of their respective branches of the military in the 1980s. Both were totally gung-ho-rah-America, and healthy enough specimens of Whiteboyicus Suburbicus. The problem was, neither of them were listening when the recruiters went over that bit about, "People are gonna tell you what to do, and you gotta shut up and do it."
"The problem was, neither of them were listening when the recruiters went over that bit about, 'People are gonna tell you what to do, and you gotta shut up and do it.'"
I teach a class on "Heroic Literature": epic & romance from ancient & medieval world culture. Those stories (Gilgamesh, the Odyssey, Beowulf, etc.) are all about hyper-exceptional males who are entitled to use violence to achieve self-definition. There's not a lot of consensus about what these stories are for in their time & in their respective cultures (myths of origin, how-to guides for masculinity, legends of achievement & sacrifice, flattering rich douchebags of old, whatever).
Their continued reception to this day, however, is hardly for the same reason. The fascination that men in this "Killer Nerd" class you describe (going back into the 1800's, so b4 Internet of course) feel for these stories speak to a longue durée of the "vigilante" fantasy, as far back there has been a (dusky) Other to fear & suppress.
The phrase goes "white with fear" — and that's about rght, innit?
I’m probably getting too far out over my philosophical skis here, but in the modern world these hero fantasies are cyclical, becoming more prevalent and having greater emotional salience in times when the power hegemony is under more threat. I mean, we’ve basically been living in the Second Redemption since the Obama presidency, where conservative white men have become absolutely rabid about wrestling autonomy away from POC, women, and LGBTQ folk. These Avenging Hero fantasies give both form and an outlet to their seething resentments.
Thank you -- and this is why my class is so important. Many of these stories create a more complicated version of manhood than currently allowed — these tough heroes are often histrionically emotional (Achilles, anyone?), there are ample suspicions of male-male intimacy along the spectrum, and more than a few are actually critical of these heroes and their values. Homer gives a sign that Odysseus is an unrepetent liar, and the story he tells of his voyages possibly all made up. Beowulf insists on living by his strength to fight the dragon & dies in pursuit of vain, selfish, material glories. The best of them are actually satirical -- such as the Taín Bó Cuáilnge (with our favorite pup Cú Cuchlainn) or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight -- demolishing the cultural dependence on the hero.
This is so interesting -- I’m no student of classic/medieval literature, but it is depressing that this sort of rich diversity in the representations of masculinity, the ability to step back, to evaluate and criticize, is almost entirely absent in today’s depictions of The Hero. Which is why in many ways we are living in both Idiocracy plus The Death of Nuance.
The thing is, putting aside all the killer nerd bloodlust, New York city has 8.4 million people, which is more than the entire countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Ireland, and a bunch more. 2.4 million people ride the New York city subway every day. That's like moving half the population of Ireland daily. Statistically, given those numbers, the odds of encountering an obnoxious person not named Chatterton Williams are somewhat high. That said, I've been riding the subway for more decades than I'd like to admit and I've never experienced anything requiring violence from passengers. Folks in East Pigtit may have heard stories about Tony Musante and Martin Sheen terrorizing the transit system, but in real life, it seems like there's more actual danger being in a planeload of people asked to wear a mask.
This is true. But seeing as how their very own president is such a person, I doubt the male killer nerds even see this as a problem, certainly not on the scale of a homeless person yelling.
Hell to the yes. The other day I ran down a litany of things I saw/experienced on the train that didn't wind up with somebody getting killed. They weren't wildly unusual things but they were fairly uncommon. But if I tried to list the number of times I was groped -- well, I couldn't, because it was so commonplace I don't even remember them all, only the ones that attempted to be so invasive they left a mark on my psyche.
"The boys in the burbs were frightened by the pimps and punks they saw on TV and at the movies and on the cover of the New York Post."
Back when Manhattan crime was at its zenith, I worked nights at WPIX. My shifts swapped between 10-6 and 7-3, and that latter shift had me walking from 42nd Street all the way to Penn Station at 2:30 or 3 in the morning (because the No.7 subway stopped running at midnight). In crime-ridden New York, it's a wonder I survived, right?
The trick I developed was to walk a kind of zig-zag pattern through the blocks, walking only where the hookers plied their trade. Those streets were safe because of the combination of pimps protecting their business assets, and cops cruising for the occasional freebie.
See, this is real street smarts, not some Kung-Fu shit or a fast draw, it's skill in the AVOIDANCE of conflict. Which, come to think of it, is what normal people do in all situations.
Sounds like a Neal Young line. Maybe from Rust Never Sleeps or Trans.
No wonder the Blues really took off in Mississippi.It sucks. I spent a week in Corinth Mississippi once, installing lighting displays in a home center store. It was summer and stupid hot. The food was good though.Gave me diabetes.
Nice essay.
I don't know, man. Between the Energy drinks, the LED lights, Hi Def porn, news so fake it's becoming news itself and that sing song little girl voice used to voice- over everything, with everybody on Team Rube shadowboxing the apocalypse, wondering if the prosperity all those preachers preach pays out in Bitcoin.It's no wonder shit is out of hand.
I can't believe the aristos think it's smart policy to arm the rabble with assault rifles.
Cultural side note relating to Roy's text. A while back, I re-watched Taxi Driver for the first time in decades. When Travis finally achieves his great catharsis...his shooting is surprisingly inept. There are live rounds flying all over the place, but only a few arrive on target. This is the same cinematic era where Clint and Charlie Bronson deadeye every time, accounting for legions of Righteous Kills. I wonder if that sneaky Scorsese feller was trying to subvert the narrative.
I could see him as one of the townspeople in High Noon who tells Gary Cooper that, sorry, he's gonna be... um.. busy when Frank Miller and his brothers come to town.
All your references are spot to on, but I would add Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle in that American Sniper piece of shit. The power of holding death at 1000 meters in your hands, that’s what killer nerds dream of. Actually going mano a mano against someone who can fight back? Too dangerous, too messy.
Reminds me of that ONE time I agreed with Bill Maher, when he knocked down the ridiculous claim that the 9/11 hijackers were cowards but our soldiers are Brave Manly Men for pushing the "launch" button on their drone control panel.
"dreamt of being that cop — or maybe just a more cop-like version of themselves"
FUUUCK. Here I was, going to make a snarky comment about "But, Roy, police have rules and laws and..." and it struck me that all those Iron Eagle/Rambo II/Red Dawn are vigilante fantasies as well, just with war instead of crime. Our Brave Heroes can go into wherever and massacre the Bad Guys without some goddamn whiny government telling them how and when and where and fretting over silly quaint notions like "war crimes".
You know, a scene from Red Dawn that's always stuck with me is where one of the Wolverines asks Fearless Leader whether or not they might be just like the enemy, and whassface raises his rifle and yells "WE SURVIVE!!!" or some such. Because that's the point, isn't it? As long as WE come out on top, everything is justified.
Man people be hatin’ on some genre classics in here! In the scene you’re referencing in Red Dawn, the response is “Because we live here!”, summing up the persistent motive to partisan resistance in wartime pretty effectively.
What's playing out here is some kind of high-school-level debate about human nature, because despite what these idiots think, humans are, fundamentally, cooperative. We're social animals, like ants or bees or naked mole rats and cooperation and avoidance of conflict is the norm, open conflict is extremely rare and also makes up about 99% of the news, because news is, by definition, what's unusual. As has been noted upthread, more than 8 million New Yorkers go about their business every day, what's not newsworthy is the vast amount of constant cooperation that makes that possible. Nobody's going to make a movie about it, or design a videogame called "make an orderly line to board the bus", but it's the key to our enormous success as a species.
As wealth is transferred upwards and austerity has the majority scrambling for an ever smaller jackpot, getting folks to abandon cooperation in favor of shin-kicking becomes easier.
Decades of linking any kind of collective action with Dirty Filthy Anti-American Communism hasn't hurt, either.
I suppose Reeves is trying to get in on the "meme of Sylvester Stallone's body with Trump's head" genre. Which seems ludicrous to almost everybody, but there are always a few who fall for it and send money.
Smart of him not to go with a photo of Clint that shows Clint's naked torso, even the stupidest right-winger (and that would be some weapons-grade stupid) wouldn't buy that combination.
They *want* to be scared. That's why they watch Fox News and live vicariously through its hosts (who get chauffeured to work everyday from the suburbs). They *want* the fantasy of blowing away anyone who looks at them cross-eyed.
They always shout endlessly about their "freedoms" yet their commitment to "democracy" is paper-thin.
They want a big strong daddy (like Trump -- who was famously a shit dad who hates his kids, who, in return, use him). Of course the big strong daddy will not be mean to THEM, only to those other people.
Not true! Trump at least loves Ivanka, though not in the most healthy way. Which is just one more reason why the evangelicals love Trump.
Right, the fantasy is to be the bully someday, but in the meantime, be the bully's sidekick who sneers at the victim, "You better do what he said! Boss doesn't mess around. Right, boss?" Imagine how good it must feel when the boss nods ever so slightly at something YOU said!
"Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovI", as it were.
Cool. Never heard that one.
Dictatorship is now fine, because folks took "freedom" and got a little bit too free with it, what with the pronouns and the quiet quitting and not goin' to church, not to mention the woke corporations, so now someone's got to hitch up his pants and step in and make some law and order, though with a tear in his eye because he's not cruel, he's just Doing What Needs To Be Done.
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture
"A Renegade Robot Cop!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVDzuT0fXro
Pant Hitcher for Hire
Pant Hitcher 2 - Higher than Ever
Pant Hitcher 3 - The Retributioner
Oh boo-hoo, GOPers -- I was trying to descend to my station in Center City, two am, in full drag, and turned the corner to find a houseless guy pissing in front of the station door. He was fucking midstream & no stopping him, and since he was not blocking the door, I chose my dainty steps carefully — & he said "Watch your step, miss" as I passed by.
I mean gross, but good manners -- and absolutely not the end of the world. A gurl will get by.
Awesome how the masses refuse to acknowledge any humanity to the homeless.
Insert rant about how our "classless" society is more like a caste system than ever, and the homeless are our Untouchables. Much like Roy's comment about crime, we're fascinated and horrified by them, the "irredeemable" who've been cast into the Outer Darkness. Almost like "we" can't imagine Living Like That to the extent that they're a different species (homo sapiens dumpsterus) and thus they're valid targets.
I’m not sure about the caste system. There *are* castes — MAGAts, corrupting special interests and the rest of Big Business. But the three combined I don’t think add up to to many people.
The rest of the populists have in common only that they’re being screwed by the three noted above, or combination of same. I don’t think that group of the screwed are a caste.
I started the Wilkerson book and got quickly bored because I really, really don’t believe our exceptional racism can be ignored.
“I just saw a homeless guy pull his dick out and pee..." Yeah, I don't want to see it either. But you pass laws to make it harder for the unhoused to fulfill their basic needs so...what? You can lock them up? Run them out of town? Then what? Where's all that mental health assistance Greg Abbott et al are willing to lavish on the public?
Republicans are certainly willing--indeed, eager--to lavish their mental illnesses on the public.
Oh, it's a special kind of "thoughts and prayers" mental health assistance that Greg Abbot offers. After each mass shooting, he sincerely wishes your mental health would improve, potential mass killer. Wishes HARD, at least for a little while.
Then there's all those "RESTROOMS ARE FOR CUSTOMERS **ONLY*"!!!" signs, because of course urination is a privilege for those who can afford it.
Somewhere, techbros are working out a sensor that detects whether the coffee or beer you're pissing out was bought at THAT establishment, if not, a big clampy thing swings down and...
To be fair, having public restrooms can lead to homeless folks camping out in them. This is a problem in my little rural town, and some business owners have ended up having to call in the cops when the homeless person (or persons) threatened violence and refused to leave.
In a humane society, we'd make sure there is shelter--not shelters--for those who have no home. But we're definitely NOT humane here.
It's a complicated problem. Extermination, on the other hand, is an easy solution.
"...he said 'Watch your step, miss' as I passed by."
This is the future liberals want.
The indigenous genocide was based on solving a problem by killing. It's our heritage, in our culture.
Meanwhile, as supplements and to save me the effort of echoing the points made therein and stuff:
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2023/05/human-life-is-cheap-in-usa.html
and
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-know-the-motive-behind-every-mass-shooting
But then, it's not so much the nation as corrupted politicians and the unhinged part of the GOP base and the politicians who serve them to the exclusion of the majority of the nation.
One thing I note about that rudepundit entry is that he's so angry he forgets to swear, or be profane in his usual sense. Clearly, the situation is profane enough as it is.
Fine, double fuck you’re correct. 😂
I know you're trying, but the RP owns the game.
He does. It’s funny that when he started, he was saying the same stuff as other libs. Now he cranks it out when something triggers his passion. The profanity adds emphasis IMO.
It is absolutely a fantasy, played by people (men) who would, quite rightly, either run or duck for cover if they were ever in actual physical danger. And deep down they probably know this about themselves, which helps fuel their fury when one of their heroes like Penny is criticized or may be called to account for his actions. Nobody ever cancelled or prosecuted Clint Eastwood. No one ever has to resort to retaining a criminal defense attorney in Call of Duty. Whenever things are brought down to earth and reality, it harshes their buzz because they want to live in a Ready Player One world.
Of course race and class and privilege are very much a part of it, but even in its purest form the Killer Nerd mentality is a huge part of it too.
Many of these types I know IRL worship the military but would never serve -- too dangerous, but also don't want somebody else telling them what to do. In other words, a Chief, not an Indian, an unwilling to do the work to earn the move from the former to the latter.
Ugh latter to the former.
I had two cousins who washed out of their respective branches of the military in the 1980s. Both were totally gung-ho-rah-America, and healthy enough specimens of Whiteboyicus Suburbicus. The problem was, neither of them were listening when the recruiters went over that bit about, "People are gonna tell you what to do, and you gotta shut up and do it."
But shouldn't I be the one barking the orders?
Sorry, buddy, you're more Gomer than Sgt. Carter.
Well, Shazam!
"Two up and hash!"
"Checks and joe!"
"Gimme a Jayne Mansfield and machine oil!"
In that order...
Still fascinates me that Libertarians are so enthusiastic about the military.
Hmmmm... it's like their claimed belief in "liberty" is actually complete horseshit!
"The problem was, neither of them were listening when the recruiters went over that bit about, 'People are gonna tell you what to do, and you gotta shut up and do it.'"
Especially by someone non-White.
I teach a class on "Heroic Literature": epic & romance from ancient & medieval world culture. Those stories (Gilgamesh, the Odyssey, Beowulf, etc.) are all about hyper-exceptional males who are entitled to use violence to achieve self-definition. There's not a lot of consensus about what these stories are for in their time & in their respective cultures (myths of origin, how-to guides for masculinity, legends of achievement & sacrifice, flattering rich douchebags of old, whatever).
Their continued reception to this day, however, is hardly for the same reason. The fascination that men in this "Killer Nerd" class you describe (going back into the 1800's, so b4 Internet of course) feel for these stories speak to a longue durée of the "vigilante" fantasy, as far back there has been a (dusky) Other to fear & suppress.
The phrase goes "white with fear" — and that's about rght, innit?
I’m probably getting too far out over my philosophical skis here, but in the modern world these hero fantasies are cyclical, becoming more prevalent and having greater emotional salience in times when the power hegemony is under more threat. I mean, we’ve basically been living in the Second Redemption since the Obama presidency, where conservative white men have become absolutely rabid about wrestling autonomy away from POC, women, and LGBTQ folk. These Avenging Hero fantasies give both form and an outlet to their seething resentments.
Thank you -- and this is why my class is so important. Many of these stories create a more complicated version of manhood than currently allowed — these tough heroes are often histrionically emotional (Achilles, anyone?), there are ample suspicions of male-male intimacy along the spectrum, and more than a few are actually critical of these heroes and their values. Homer gives a sign that Odysseus is an unrepetent liar, and the story he tells of his voyages possibly all made up. Beowulf insists on living by his strength to fight the dragon & dies in pursuit of vain, selfish, material glories. The best of them are actually satirical -- such as the Taín Bó Cuáilnge (with our favorite pup Cú Cuchlainn) or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight -- demolishing the cultural dependence on the hero.
This is so interesting -- I’m no student of classic/medieval literature, but it is depressing that this sort of rich diversity in the representations of masculinity, the ability to step back, to evaluate and criticize, is almost entirely absent in today’s depictions of The Hero. Which is why in many ways we are living in both Idiocracy plus The Death of Nuance.
The thing is there's always more.
New aunts, I mean.
Points right to Don Quixote.
Cool. You ever do Ilya Muromets?
Sorry, only pot & poppers...
2 marks, tho my question still stands (a little awkwardly over by the potted plant)...
The thing is, putting aside all the killer nerd bloodlust, New York city has 8.4 million people, which is more than the entire countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Ireland, and a bunch more. 2.4 million people ride the New York city subway every day. That's like moving half the population of Ireland daily. Statistically, given those numbers, the odds of encountering an obnoxious person not named Chatterton Williams are somewhat high. That said, I've been riding the subway for more decades than I'd like to admit and I've never experienced anything requiring violence from passengers. Folks in East Pigtit may have heard stories about Tony Musante and Martin Sheen terrorizing the transit system, but in real life, it seems like there's more actual danger being in a planeload of people asked to wear a mask.
Perhaps you're not female, in which case you would have encountered Gropey McGroperson, who makes the rounds, and deserves a swift kick in the nuts.
This is true. But seeing as how their very own president is such a person, I doubt the male killer nerds even see this as a problem, certainly not on the scale of a homeless person yelling.
If she didn't want it, why was she standing within arm's length of me?
C'mon, Gropey's more selective than that, I just saw a guy in a videotaped legal deposition explain that he only attacks women who are "his type."
Yeah, well, who told her she could go around being his type.
Hell to the yes. The other day I ran down a litany of things I saw/experienced on the train that didn't wind up with somebody getting killed. They weren't wildly unusual things but they were fairly uncommon. But if I tried to list the number of times I was groped -- well, I couldn't, because it was so commonplace I don't even remember them all, only the ones that attempted to be so invasive they left a mark on my psyche.
"..... the odds of encountering an obnoxious person not named Chatterton Williams are somewhat high ...."
HAH!!!!!!!!!!
"The boys in the burbs were frightened by the pimps and punks they saw on TV and at the movies and on the cover of the New York Post."
Back when Manhattan crime was at its zenith, I worked nights at WPIX. My shifts swapped between 10-6 and 7-3, and that latter shift had me walking from 42nd Street all the way to Penn Station at 2:30 or 3 in the morning (because the No.7 subway stopped running at midnight). In crime-ridden New York, it's a wonder I survived, right?
The trick I developed was to walk a kind of zig-zag pattern through the blocks, walking only where the hookers plied their trade. Those streets were safe because of the combination of pimps protecting their business assets, and cops cruising for the occasional freebie.
See, this is real street smarts, not some Kung-Fu shit or a fast draw, it's skill in the AVOIDANCE of conflict. Which, come to think of it, is what normal people do in all situations.
But avoiding conflict isn't maaaaaanly.
Josh Hawley thinks your wrong
Fun fact time! For the year 2020:
Murders
NYC--462
Texas--2064
Population:
NYC--8.7 million
Texas--29.3 million
Sure looks like the hellscape of NYC is about 50% safer than the gun-toting paradise of Texas!
Math checks out.
Steve, Steve...it's OK to let go.
"amped to sweep in and regulate"
Sounds like a Neal Young line. Maybe from Rust Never Sleeps or Trans.
No wonder the Blues really took off in Mississippi.It sucks. I spent a week in Corinth Mississippi once, installing lighting displays in a home center store. It was summer and stupid hot. The food was good though.Gave me diabetes.
Nice essay.
I don't know, man. Between the Energy drinks, the LED lights, Hi Def porn, news so fake it's becoming news itself and that sing song little girl voice used to voice- over everything, with everybody on Team Rube shadowboxing the apocalypse, wondering if the prosperity all those preachers preach pays out in Bitcoin.It's no wonder shit is out of hand.
I can't believe the aristos think it's smart policy to arm the rabble with assault rifles.
They think they'll always be able to pick the targets. Works so far!
Of course, they bleed red, just like the rest of us…
Cultural side note relating to Roy's text. A while back, I re-watched Taxi Driver for the first time in decades. When Travis finally achieves his great catharsis...his shooting is surprisingly inept. There are live rounds flying all over the place, but only a few arrive on target. This is the same cinematic era where Clint and Charlie Bronson deadeye every time, accounting for legions of Righteous Kills. I wonder if that sneaky Scorsese feller was trying to subvert the narrative.
That's why they need a magazine with SO MANY BULLETS!
What the hell you been READIN'??
Yeah, Tate is the wheezy fat guy who pisses himself and gets sent away with the womenfolk when the fight starts.
I could see him as one of the townspeople in High Noon who tells Gary Cooper that, sorry, he's gonna be... um.. busy when Frank Miller and his brothers come to town.
All your references are spot to on, but I would add Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle in that American Sniper piece of shit. The power of holding death at 1000 meters in your hands, that’s what killer nerds dream of. Actually going mano a mano against someone who can fight back? Too dangerous, too messy.
Yes, now THAT is How White Men Fight. From a distance, through technology.
c.f. Vietnam bombing campaigns, Desert Storm, and the modern use of armed drones.
Reminds me of that ONE time I agreed with Bill Maher, when he knocked down the ridiculous claim that the 9/11 hijackers were cowards but our soldiers are Brave Manly Men for pushing the "launch" button on their drone control panel.
Billy has since made up amply for that momentary indiscretion by hopping on the transphobic douchebaggery wagon.
Don't they sometimes miss the personal touch?
(HT Tuli Kupferberg)
Kyle believed that there was no such thing as a problem that couldn't be solved with a gun. Except that one time...
I like American Sniper. I think Clint snuck one over there. https://alicublog.blogspot.com/2015/02/on-to-oscar-3.html
"dreamt of being that cop — or maybe just a more cop-like version of themselves"
FUUUCK. Here I was, going to make a snarky comment about "But, Roy, police have rules and laws and..." and it struck me that all those Iron Eagle/Rambo II/Red Dawn are vigilante fantasies as well, just with war instead of crime. Our Brave Heroes can go into wherever and massacre the Bad Guys without some goddamn whiny government telling them how and when and where and fretting over silly quaint notions like "war crimes".
You know, a scene from Red Dawn that's always stuck with me is where one of the Wolverines asks Fearless Leader whether or not they might be just like the enemy, and whassface raises his rifle and yells "WE SURVIVE!!!" or some such. Because that's the point, isn't it? As long as WE come out on top, everything is justified.
Man people be hatin’ on some genre classics in here! In the scene you’re referencing in Red Dawn, the response is “Because we live here!”, summing up the persistent motive to partisan resistance in wartime pretty effectively.
What's playing out here is some kind of high-school-level debate about human nature, because despite what these idiots think, humans are, fundamentally, cooperative. We're social animals, like ants or bees or naked mole rats and cooperation and avoidance of conflict is the norm, open conflict is extremely rare and also makes up about 99% of the news, because news is, by definition, what's unusual. As has been noted upthread, more than 8 million New Yorkers go about their business every day, what's not newsworthy is the vast amount of constant cooperation that makes that possible. Nobody's going to make a movie about it, or design a videogame called "make an orderly line to board the bus", but it's the key to our enormous success as a species.
As wealth is transferred upwards and austerity has the majority scrambling for an ever smaller jackpot, getting folks to abandon cooperation in favor of shin-kicking becomes easier.
Decades of linking any kind of collective action with Dirty Filthy Anti-American Communism hasn't hurt, either.
"Killer Nerds" sounds like a video game. Maybe it already is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_Nerd
I suppose Reeves is trying to get in on the "meme of Sylvester Stallone's body with Trump's head" genre. Which seems ludicrous to almost everybody, but there are always a few who fall for it and send money.
Smart of him not to go with a photo of Clint that shows Clint's naked torso, even the stupidest right-winger (and that would be some weapons-grade stupid) wouldn't buy that combination.