Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil: the Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism - Book Review

Humanist, July-August, 2003 by Fred Edwords

by Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence (Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cambridge, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2003); 392 pp with notes and indices; $34.00 cloth.

Beginning where their 2002 book, The Myth of the American Superhero, leaves off, the authors of this new work summarize and then expand upon their previous argument that superhero tales--ubiquitous in popular cinema, television, literature, and other entertainments--express antidemocratic values. Authors Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence add that, in expressing such values, these tales help foster "a civil religion that seeks to redeem the world for democracy, but by means that transcend democratic limits on the exercise of power." They argue that the United States is a nation with "a mythic addiction to stories of community impotence and superhero redemption" which renders Americans amenable to "surrendering personal responsibility to savior figures." This Captain America complex, as they term it, shows itself in the way Americans "so often feel chafed by the limits of the Constitution" and are thus willing, for example, to hand tremendous war powers over to a president who promises to use those powers selflessly in an ongoing global and domestic crusade against "evil."

In this connection, the authors remind us of the decisive objections Karl Popper raised in 1950 in The Open Society and Its Enemies. Popper declares that we shouldn't be asking "Who should rule?" as this question "presupposes we can identify the 'good ones.'" Rather, we should ask, "How can we so organize political institutions that bad or incompetent rulers can be prevented from doing too much damage?"

But Popper isn't popular. The American public--conditioned by certain biblical ideas retold as "secularized dramas of redemption" in a variety of media--has other ideas. The overwhelming influence of such widely disseminated entertainments far outstrips the limited value-shaping impact of sporadic participation in patriotic celebrations, civic action, or even the brief interludes provided by traditional religious services. Today's popular entertainments "respond to current events with mythic scenarios," teaching children and adults that turning to selfless superheroes will lead to the "regeneration of a helpless democratic society." The administration of President George W. Bush has, in the wake of 9/11, effectively played upon this longstanding American outlook in a power grab coupled with a doctrinaire pursuit of a violent foreign policy that repeats mistakes of the past.

In my review published in the May/June 2003 issue of the Humanist, of their previous book, I conclude that the authors, while making valid observations, somewhat overstate their case and express exaggerated concerns. Stories of vigilante heroes don't necessarily promote fascistic beliefs but may simply provide catharsis as well as "renewal and inspiration" for tackling in a fresh way the frustrations necessarily built into democratic institutions and family life. The authors, however, beg to differ. Anticipating such a view, they respond in their latest book as follows:

   We would like to believe in what might be
   called "the holiday effect." Since excessive
   work yields diminishing returns for tired
   workers, they often return from holidays
   with renewed zest and vigor for their tasks. It
   would be reassuring to discover that the fascist
   strand in the American monomyth has a
   similarly cathartic influence that invigorates
   the democratic life. Unfortunately, we find no
   evidence that this is the case in our civic
   experience. The American monomyth seems,
   in fact, to be the ritual life of zealous nationalism....
   We suspect that there is an
   American monomythic fantasy cycle here, in
   which the interplay between entertainments
   and political threats pulls us away from our
   democratic ideals.

Jewett and Lawrence then go on to make their case. Though I don't find they succeed in proving that popular entertainments have such robust propaganda power, I do think the authors have shown how American political culture, for one reason or another, has long been influenced by zealous nationalism, ultimately inspired by biblical notions of righteous zeal (a concept similar to Islamic jihad) and wars against "evil."

Looking into the Bible, the authors identify two contradictory strains which they maintain run throughout. The strain of zealous nationalism is to be found in the first few books of the Hebrew scriptures, most clearly in Deuteronomy, as well as in the later books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, and Joel. The authors tell how ancient Israel, in the thrall of fanatical ideas about cleansing the world of evil, behaved with violent self-righteousness and suicidal arrogance, ultimately launching irrational holy wars against superior powers until Israel's own Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom were defeated and destroyed. During this time, a new counter doctrine, which the authors call "prophetic realism," emerged. Advanced particularly by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Amos, it counseled against zealous nationalism and called for tolerance, peace, and a more realistic, non-doctrinaire view of personal and political life. Adoption of their outlook might have saved ancient Israel, but these prophets were ignored.