This 1950s era comic illustrates why the Trump campaign is dying

[DemocratSinceBirth]

[mucifer]

1. Superman was pretty cool. He fought the kkk on the radio in 1946

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. I went to junior high in the 1970s exurban south.

Two things stand out

- We were taught to address adults as Sir and Ma'am. I do it to this day.

-A heavy pro-integration, anti-prejudice message.



Great lessons !!!

[riversedge]

3. I did not know that. Actually, I know nothing of Superman comic books. Thanks for post

[whistler162]

4. Welcome to earth....

hope you come in peace. Just don't pay attention to the gentleman with the orange face.

[riversedge]

7. I am just not a comic fan. No orange for me.

[whistler162]

13. REPENT from that grievous sin!:wink

[IronLionZion]

5. Very important, thanks for sharing

America is diverse and that's what makes us great.

What's interesting is that back in the day people were worried about white immigrants from Italy, Ireland, Eastern Europe, etc.

[Francis Booth]

33. Other than the English and Dutch, every immigrant wave from Europe did their time

in the can, usually a generation or two. My Italian grandparents settled in the Bronx around 1910. It was the only place that Italians could get housing. They were considered filthy peasants, even though they were skilled stonemasons.

The city I grew up in, Worcester, Massachusetts, had distinctly Irish, Italian, Scandanavian, and Polish sections. If you veered too far off of your turf, you'd get your ass kicked for sure.

It seems kind of quaint today, but we still segregate newcomers. These days it's Vietnamese and Cambodians. Poorer cities like Lowell and Lawrence have seen white flight to suburbs, leaving the inner cities to Asian newspcomers.

I think the movie 'Gangs of New York' depicts this brilliantly. The Irish wave of the early 1870s were immediately shipped to the front lines and ground into hamburger. Nobody gave a fuck - they were hungry and were good fighters, so that's where they went. Today they run almost all of the big city and state political machines.

While our ideals were worthy, in practice we didn't do very well at welcoming immigrants. There seems to be a strong tribal instinct hard-wired into us, even to this day.

[baldguy]

6. Kal-El was an immigrant refugee orphan who fled the destruction of his home.

America welcomed him, adopted him & made him a national symbol.

What happened in the last 50 yrs that we stopped doing that?

[Bucky]

10. He took away a job belonging to Captain Marvel

[Moonwalk]

22. Hahahaha!

Good one!

[Moonwalk]

24. An illegal immigrant at that! I don't recall him getting his American Citizenship....

....Yet he believed in "truth, justice and the American way."

[underpants]

45. Superman depicts/represents Jewish life in the US

The creators were Jewish and wanted to show how much they appreciated Anerica and how they felt they needed to contribute to it.

[BlueMTexpat]

47. Thanks for that bit of

information!

[Moonwalk]

51. The creators also had a very, um, socialist frame of mind....

Originally, at least. They were depression era boys from Cleveland, Ohio, and the father of the writer (Jerry Siegel) was killed (the year before he came up with Superman) in a robbery at the family's second hand clothing store. Originally, the character was very much a depression era superhero (a "strong man" like in the circus, which accounted or the cape and leotards), meaning he intimidated wife beaters and threatened bankers, and yes, protected the poor from the criminal activities of both outright thieves and greedy landlords.

He became more of the "all American" Superman fighting big "evils" with WWII.

Interesting, huh?

[underpants]

52. It is very interesting

I was not aware of the background about Superman until I learned about it on DU. Your post was something I didn't know about until now. Thanks.

[awoke_in_2003]

30. E Pluribus Unum

was replaced with In God We Trust. Yes, that is very simplistic, but that little saying serves as a reminder that we are a nation made up of many different people.

[Mendocino]

8. E Pluribus Unum

Out of many, one.

That was the national motto until 1956 though never codified. Now of course it's In God We Trust.

My maternal grandparents came through Ellis Island from Germany in the mid 20's. They barely spoke any English. Yet grandpa got a good job, kept it through the depression and was elected mayor of their small town in the 50's.

[brush]

9. I like the original motto — E Pluribus Unum

Thanks for reminding us.

[Old Crow]

32. I also like the old metaphor of "the melting pot." (Read on if you're rolling your eyes.)

Over the past two decades, I've seen the melting pot metaphor derided, often by people who don't understand it. One critic I read seemed to think it was a culinary reference, and was describing a melting of different ingredients (i.e., cultures) into a homogenous soup. This particular critic then suggested that America really ought to be considered a salad, with different ingredients tossed together, but each ingredient retaining its own properties.

To understand the melting pot metaphor, you have to understand its origin. It refers to the melting pot or crucible used in, first, the iron industry and later the steel industry. The idea was that by combining different elements--iron, carbon, nickel, manganese, chromium, tungsten, et cetera--you could get something stronger and more useful than any of the individual elements alone.

I understand the objections to the metaphor and think all immigrants should be encouraged to celebrate and retain the unique elements of their heritage. But I think the metaphor gets it more right than wrong: Immigrants to America should assimilate not to form some homogenous soup, but to make us all stronger, in the same way that elements are combined to make steel. E pluribus unum, indeed.

[Francis Booth]

34. Couldn't agree with you more. I'm old now, but as kids we were taught the melting pot

metaphor exactly as you describe it. Many immigrants in those days did not teach their children the old tongue, believing that English was the only way to succeed.

I'm fine with people being bilingual, but everyone should learn English.

I'll probably get alerted on for saying this.

[brush]

36. English, yes, but another language as well. Many in other countries are multi-longual . . .

it comes in handy. During the Iran crisis we were critically short of Farsi speakers.

[Francis Booth]

43. Multilingual is wonderful. The Swiss speak German, Italian, English and French.

It seems like everyone in Europe speaks 3 tongues.

My Spanish is passable and would be better if I had someone to practice with. I have a neighbor from Columbia, but he's very assimilated and sticks to English.

For my money, though, there's nothing more musical than Italian.

[brush]

53. Brazilian Portuguese is also very lyrical, unlike the guttural native Portuguese

Last edited Sun Aug 14, 2016, 06:33 PM - Edit history (1)

[Francis Booth]

54. Yes, I've heard it. There's a town in Massachusetts (Hudson)

that I used to work in, and they had a very large population of Brazilian Portuguese.

Great food, and a beautiful people.

[JackRiddler]

11. It also shows one reason for Trump's appeal.

Eight persons depicted, six of them identifiable as white -- including Superman. One black kid and one Asian very safely rendered as an adorable six-year-old. Not so far from the actual demographics of the time, the poster would look ludicrous today. That self-evident hegemony has declined, and it's had a number of white people in a moral panic ever since.

[athena]

19. And five boys and only two girls.

Sexism is not even listed among the things that are un-American.

[Crash2Parties]

37. And the use of "him" as a non-gendered pronoun...

"...tell HIM" (emphasis mine).

I'd forgotten that when I was young, kids were still taught that groups of mixed or unknown gender should always be referred to with male pronouns. Because, you know, they are the ones who should not be insulted by misgendering them.

[TonyPDX]

12. I believe most Americans agree. Wouldn't it be great if this old idea caught on again?

[Hortensis]

16. It may be. There's some speculation in media about a growing

"decency" movement, perhaps among some conservatives especially, apparently not especially tied to any particular ideology or religion but just a reaction to indecency that's reaching toxic levels.

[TonyPDX]

20. I'd love to support that movement. If it takes hold, though, the media will be the last to know it.

[Hortensis]

23. Last to embrace it, probably never. Blood leads.

But I'll join it. We already normally don't watch TV news, though I confess I'm watching a lot of campaign coverage, mostly to see how they drive it.

[7962]

25. I'm seeing it on my Facebook pages more often

People I've known for years & KNOW they're not voting for Hillary, yet asking "why cant people just be NICE to each other even if we dont vote for the same person"?

[Hortensis]

27. REALLY? Oh, that's wonderful, 7962.

We need it on both sides. For our part, non-conservatives really need to learn once again how to regard and speak with conservatives respectfully. We once did, back in the days when we didn't understand why they had become so hostile politically and were still thinking they'd become their old selves again. Maybe they are.

[7962]

28. I remember Reagan & Tip O'Neill fighting all day, Then having dinner that night

I believe there was a quote from one of them along the lines of "Friends after 6, but before 6 its all politics"

[Hortensis]

29. Love it!

[DownriverDem]

41. Politicians interacted more.

Back then the Dems and repubs stayed in town more. They interacted more. They compromised to get things done for the people. This will never happen until the repub party is totally defeated.

[classykaren]

14. Also many schools do not even have a civics class anymore.

[RapSoDee]

15. k and r

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

17. Postwar boomer here - ww2& holocaust was still fresh back then and we were raised w/strong sense of

"NEVER AGAIN." I remember very clearly the lessons of Nuremberg trials being openly stated in the classroom - if you see your government is doing something wrong or evil its your obligation as individuals to stand up and do something about it.

On a visceral, feeling level that I find whats so abhorrent about this current rise of Neo-facism in general and Trump's blatherings in particular - just goes against everything we were taught about what was right and just and American.

[underpants]

46. Superman is Jewish

The creators wanted to depict how Jewish immigrants appreciated this country and how they wanted to contribute to this country.

[Snarkoleptic]

18. In a rare moment, Lindsey Graham nailed it.

“The demographics race we’re losing badly,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2012/08/29/b9023a52-f1ec-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html

[Hekate]

21. Used to watch Superman in B/W as a little kid, and could recite the opening by heart...

"Truth, Justice, and the American Way" really meant something to me, as did messages like the one in the OP cartoon.

[reACTIONary]

31. Without googling....

Faster than a speeding bullet , more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound - Look! Up in the sky! It's Superman! Strange visitor from another planet, come to earth to fight for truth, justice, and the American way!

Now I'll Google and see if I got it right.

Announcer: Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!
Voices: Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!
Announcer: Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.

Hummm, not terribly wrong but not super memory

[underpants]

44. :-)

See my sig line.

[Akamai]

26. Great posting! Also, your signature line is excellent! About being a Democrat because God loves you.

[tclambert]

35. You know that Superman guy is actually an illegal alien.

That's why the Trump wall must be coated with kryptonite.

[Doctor Jack]

38. Is that really from the 1950's?

Quite progressive for back then

[ailsagirl]

39. Yep-- right here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/superman-poster-american-values_us_5650a695e4b0879a5b0b42a7

[jtuck004]

40. Who distributed those, and has the rights? A go fund me page could pay to distribute them again. n/t

[white_wolf]

42. I'd assume DC Comics which is owned by Warner Brothers. nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

48. That is what heterogeneity looked like in the 50s.

It should be updated to what heterogeneity looks like today.

[jtuck004]

49. I was thinking more along the lines of the general concept of making people think about our ideals..

'cause to be really accurate, Superman would also need to point out that for that black kid there might not be a legal voting age, and he might not be able to drink from the same fountain.

A public exhortation to live up to our ideals would be a good idea. We sell everything else, that would seem to be as important.

We can drop the superhero. We need to be advertising toward adults, because broken adults can't produce whole children. Accidents happen, but mostly that is the way it is.

Everyone teaches by example. Until we start living like we tell the kids they are supposed to, no poster is gonna make much of a difference.

[jtuck004]

50. 4 years, millions die, to defeat an army run by a believer in a super race of white men, so we can

go home and raise the kids on a steady diet of tv showing a white super man.

What we say and what we teach are often two different things.

It's been way too long, but I went through what I could find on youtube, and I did not see one black character on tv superman from the 50s.

This episode was special for the Treasury Dept to encourage savings, - still no black folk, but the guy who says he is a burglar because he never learned to save cracked me up.

From Wiki - Tye (2012): "Weisinger stories steered clear of the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, the black power movement, and other issues that red the 1960s. There was none of what Mort would have called “touchy-feely” either, much as readers might have liked to know how Clark felt about his split personality, or whether Superman and Lois engaged in the battles between the sexes that were a hallmark of the era. Mort wanted his comics to be a haven for young readers, and he knew his right-leaning politics wouldn’t sit well with his leftist writers and many of his Superman fans."

Maybe that was why we saw a mostly white world.