Rich Johnston of Lying in the Gutters fame, writes an awesome rant on Why V for Vendetta Matters…Especially Now. The title character is a terrorist…and a hero.
Will American audiences respond favourably to such a character? Remember if you will that the freedom Americans covet so tightly was earned through the blood of revolutionaries who waged unconventional war against conventional warriors, an unconventional war that the conventional armies called…terrorism.
Sometimes an act of terrorism by a few men, or even just one, can create an overwhelming response from the enemy that can, in its own way, fulfil their objectives.
It’s a commonly used adage that terrorism doesn’t work. Sadly, it’s not true. The Good Friday Agreement in Ireland is likely never to have happened without the IRA’s mainland bombing campaign (one I have first hand experience with). And the movements collectively dubbed Al Qaeda have never been so healthy right now. All the second Gulf War did was blow on those embers till they lit.
So. V For Vendetta. A story about personal responsibility that makes Spider-Man look like the infant parable it really is. A book about power, fascism, anarchy, the impotence of democracy, the potential of humanity and the innate contradictions of the English.
What follows in the talkback is a back and forth between Democrats (who are branded with the hated term “Liberals”, or the McCarthy tainted “Leftists”) and Republicans (whom Democrats call “The Right”…but whom true Liberals refer to as “The Man”).
Supporters of the Right don’t seem to see the point. They wave the flag and say “Commie leftist propoganda”, but don’t get the point of the article.
The point is that we’re all French Connection United Kingdomed unless each one of us stands up and says “nope, stop being stupid all of you all”.