April 30, 2014

"Pop Culture Recasts Obama as Drone Master" — a NYT headline I misinterpreted.

That's the front page teaser for an article that has a slightly different headline "The Rise of the Drone Master: Pop Culture Recasts Obama." I clicked through because I thought it would be funny if pop culture had started mocking Obama's style of speech. He's no longer eloquent. He's verbose and dull — droning. The Drone Master.

But no:
In Marvel’s latest popcorn thriller, Captain America battles Hydra, a malevolent organization that has infiltrated the highest levels of the United States government. There are missile attacks, screeching car chases, enormous explosions, evil assassins, data-mining supercomputers and giant killer drones ready to obliterate millions of people....

12 comments:

Brian said...

Some third party may have cast Obama in the "drones, missile attacks, and giant data-mining supercomputers" part, I suppose, but if so he's giving the sort of performance in it that makes reviewers write that "he really made this role his own."

mccullough said...

An interesting thing about the new Captain America movie was Robert Redford's role in the movie. A liberal playing a liberal who is not the good guy.

SHIELD is a bureaucracy and the technocrats are not our friends.

Anonymous said...

They were too clever by half.

They thought we were still in the Bush Administration and that their criticism of (read: Hydra) would be taken as a neocon type bad guy.

Unfortunately, all the 18-25 year olds today weren't really paying attention 6 years ago, so all they know now is the Obama administration.

And therefore, Captain America wasn't criticising some unknown Bush Administration or neocon foreign policy, it was critical of Obama and this Democratic administration.

Hagar said...

It's a slippery slope ....

SteveBrooklineMA said...

Funny, I read the title and thought "drone" referred to mindless manual laborers. "Drone Master" thus meant the guy who gave us a future where we all work at repetitive drudgery. I thought it tied in with the recent report that job growth was mostly in low-end fast food jobs.

traditionalguy said...

Did they say St.Obama has been recast by Pope Culture?

traditionalguy said...

Newest in Pope Culture: St.Obama is the Saint whom you must pray to for protection from Hellfire Drones, or else you will miraculously disappear into a vaporized explosion.

richard mcenroe said...

McCullough __ I do confess to a slight kvell at Redford's denouement. It was no Team America... but it was a start.

richard mcenroe said...

One thing I have learned trying to talk to younger people today: they have no knowledge of history. None. You refer to JBJ, Carter, Reagan... nothing. Try referring to TR, Coolidge, FDR, Eisenhower, you might has well be talking about Tutankhamen.

So when you try to make a political point or historical analogy, you might as well be talking to your Labrador.

These kids have no hope of ever participating responsibly in the civic arena. They are total marks.

RecChief said...



You hit the nail on the head. but they still get to vote.

jr565 said...

Eric wrote:
They thought we were still in the Bush Administration and that their criticism of (read: Hydra) would be taken as a neocon type bad guy.

Unfortunately, all the 18-25 year olds today weren't really paying attention 6 years ago, so all they know now is the Obama administration.

And therefore, Captain America wasn't criticising some unknown Bush Administration or neocon foreign policy, it was critical of Obama and this Democratic administration.

kids of today don't care about drone strikes. They won't care until. Republican becomes president and then they'll dust off the "not in my name signs". Until then it's all about how criticizing Obama is RACIST.

Also, in regards to captain America, if hydra is attacking the US the way it is doesn't that kind of point out the need for shield to continue doing what it's doing? How else do you deal with ogres like Hydra? And if they were able to do it under the nose of shield by infiltrating shield that means shield has to be even more vigilant about weeding out Hydra. Which would mean more surveillance not less

Leon said...

there will only ever be one 'more mush from the wimp headline' they may think it but they'll never say it.