Friday, September 14, 2007

Centrism

There are many, many reasons that V for Vendetta is considered controversial here in the United States - it speaks out against government authority, attacks the media, promotes anarchy, condemns the average citizen for not being more politically involved, and features a hero who is, unarguably, a terrorist and psychopath. As far as the American public was concerned, however, its only truly unforgivable sin was suggesting that America was (unthinkable thought!) unimportant.
V for Vendetta's dystopian future takes place in England - which is not in and of itself the problem. Most Americans can even find England on a map - it's the island to the right of the US. The problem is that the novel does not seem to consider America important. The United States rates one mention in passing in the novel - and that's a reference to the Milgram experiments. The one mention of America in the book, and it's a condemnation.
It sounds a bit ludicrous to consider one's nation so central to the universe that no future can be conceived without it - but that's precisely the public's view. Just look at the television news - in a recent year, over 60 countries received less than 60 seconds each of airtime in the US. Foreign news segments focus on America's interaction with other countries. The average American, when pressed, cannot name the leaders or capitals of three other countries; and America is far behind the rest of the world in the average number of languages spoken.
There are any number of more important reasons that V for Vendetta might be found controversial. Those, the public could understand. America, however, simply cannot comprehend being ignored.

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