If you want to use some character (Superman, Jesus, the sexy werewolves from that Van Hellsing movie, whatever) as an abstract ideal to strive for, okay, sure.

But the first step towards committing atrocity is failing to recognize one's own capacity for harm.

@soatok I think what a lot of Americans don’t realise (or don’t want to admit) is that trump is possibly the most ‘American’ president there’s been so far.

Like, this is what the American empire is about. Invading other countries and killing their people, as well as the absolute prioritisation of the wealth of the capitalist class over the needs and rights of the people. He is much more abrasive about doing it, but the presidents before him were doing the same things, just quieter.

I think this can be best seen in /why/ trump is so deeply unpopular. The issues that are dominating popular discussion for Americans are… cost of living and ICE. A lot of Americans are unhappy with government because the misfortune is pointed inwards at them too now. Hell, even the main concern people have with the Iranian war is an economic one, not the ‘killing people’ part.

@soatok It's not that surprising they love to view themselves as the "Goodguys". If forced to have to view it as a collection of choices instead of a default "Good" they are then forced to have to acknowledge all the racist, classist, etc shit they have backed and continue to back. It forces them to confront stuff they've backed instead of just blaming the "Badguys" of everything.

As such I would not say MAGA shatters their belief of being the "Goodguy", but re-enforces it. They say the "Badguys" are extra bad now. Sure, they are right that the Republicans are worse than they were, but it does nothing to change what they've done or are doing. Just makes it easier to asside by saying the "Badguys" are now extra bad. Especially since the stepping stones to everything that is going wrong now they had a hand in laying and this belief makes it easy to brush that asside as well.