The Illusion of Depth

The 11th of November is of course Remembrance Day; the day when everyone tries to out-patriotism each other by wearing little plastic poppies to honour all the glorious heroes who murdered someone else's glorious heroes because... "Freedom" or something. My poppy is bigger than yours... Yes, I know. That was offensive. Well you know what? War is offensive. I have always been very uncomfortable with the commemoration of any aspect of war; even if it is just to honour the dead. It can very quickly turn into a rallying-cry for more bloodshed. Too many times in our history has there been a tacit assumption that war is a game , with rules and ethics, and red lines that must never be crossed. That's why you will often hear pundits and politicians talking about "war crimes" and "atrocities" as if war somehow had boundaries and umpires and fouls. Guess what? War is a crime. Any act of war is an atrocity, and if two sides can agree to work within a mutual

In 1987, the American academic Gary Engle published an article entitled What Makes Superman So Darned American? It's a reasonable question. The character of Superman has been associated with America and American values almost from the very beginning. Images of Superman proudly defending the US flag are the very stuff and essence of American popular mythology.  But (it could be argued) Superman is not American. He was born, as everyone knows, on the planet Krypton and sent to Earth as an infant. He is not human. He has X-ray vision. He's faster than a speeding bullet, can leap tall buildings in a single bound, etc. etc. None of these characteristics are qualities we generally associate with Americans. And yet, as Engle points out, Superman is the ultimate American. First, and most importantly, he's an immigrant . No nation on Earth has so deeply embedded in its social consciousness the imagery of passage from one social identity to another: the Mayflower of the New England s