Understanding the real world
Virtual Heroin in Vile Politics
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The risk and the rush of pseudo-heroism …
… can be as addictive as the substances peddled on street corners and stolen by Omar in “The Wire”. You feel like a hero living that life. The effect is more than just pharmaceutical.
Heroism is the most addictive feeling possible, particularly for men — especially for young men.
Heroin was named for that feeling because it makes you feel like a hero without doing anything. True story.
From a marketing/advertising campaign perspective this is essentially why Trump won with his slogan Make America Great Again, a heroic message. A call to heroic action. Compare that to Stronger Together. No comparison. Particularly for young men.
Look at the movies. It’s one man (sometimes one woman) against the establishment or the evil empire. Whatever. And you’re fighting the good fight and it gets worse and worse. Everything you try backfires, then you get one last chance and this time, this time, you’re lucky, the stars align. You feel the rush. And everybody recognizes that you are the real hero.
Cue “Waiting for the Man”
That was what Trump did for these guys — let them feel like they could be heroes — like they deserved to be heroes for their suffering and for voting for him. That they could overcome the free-trade deck stacked against them, take down the card sharks of Wall Street, beat the Big House odds.
You can worship saints or you can worship heroes. But Donnie is neither. Donnie T is just another thug on another street corner selling stepped-on heroin spiked with fentanyl. Nazis love that shit. And Donnie T. is their enabler.
Stephen Benfey
10 november 2016
www.benfeys.com
