As a kid I never indulged in comic book reading. I never knew the difference between Marvel and DC comic heros or villians. I could not tell which capped character was is in the Justice League, Guardians of the Galaxy, or which one is an X-Man. I will admit I did watch the TV series Superman and later Batman as kid. But my comic book viewing never introduced me to the concept of the Bizarro World–or how it would be relevant today.
Today’s political world reads like a comic book. Instead of the Justice League we have the Freedom Caucus. Although its members, like Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Green, do not run around in fancy tights and cape, they do act bizarre form time-to-time. It is hard to tell who are the good guys or bad guys without a comic book. It all depends on how you perceive government and which comic book you get your news from. It would be interesting to see what Marvel or DC could come up with thrilling MTG battling Jewish space lasers and California wildfires and seeking out Hunter Biden’s private parts. And then there is Jim Jordan slinking out of a Congressional cave rooting out the so-called liberal agenda spearheaded by the Bizarro Captain America, Joe Biden.
Oh, but wait. We have Fox News, CNN and MSNBC already writing the never ending saga of the Trump crusade to make America great again. Or is it Bizarro Captain Joe trying to save America from fascism and tyranny. You pick. Marvel or DC.
According to one Google search there have been 37 Marvel movies and 27 DC movies. If you go to IMDB website there have been around 200 movies and televised Superhero flicks of some sort or other. As I mentioned, as a kid I did watch some episodes of Superman on TV with George Reeves as “the man of steel.” And in 1966 I watched Batman. Britannica described Adam West and Batman as a “kitschy” TV series. Despite being laughably tacky, it was popular show for ABC.
But then I grew up and that ended my fascination with comic book heroes. I spent more time reading Time and Newsweek, until 1989. I remember watching Batman with Michael Keaton. But, to this day I could not tell you a single event from the movie. In 2002 I watched Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire. I recall his un-heroic looking costume. But mostly I recall the upside down kiss with Kirsten Dunst.
Later, a colleague bullied me to watch the 2008 Iron Man film with Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark. He gave me the CD to watch. I do remember a little more about this movie simply because my colleague made it mandatory that we have a post viewing discussion. Fortunately for me, it was more of him expounded on the movie and me nodding in agreement.
With my lack of interest in comics I naturally missed out on the concept of the Bizarro World. Strangely enough, It was through the TV show Seinfeld that I was awakened to the concept of the Bizarro World. How have I gone most of my life not knowing about the Bizarro World.
According to comicvine.gamespot, the Bizarro World is “where everything is different, and opposite of the way things are on Earth.” It is a planet populated with dopplegangers of Earth’s superheros. A planet that is a cube. The Bizarro concept seems simple, and it is one that I really do not want to delve too deeply in because I think many of the people today are already trapped in a real earthly Bizarro World.–starting with Qanon followers.
However, after a little research on the Bizarro World I am convinced it was created buy several guys stoned to the gourd sitting around a kitchen table coming up with stories as they passed a bong around. With the right amount of weed it is a storyline that can write itself, much like today’s political situation. The big difference is that the political pundits, squawking heads and consultants are not sitting around the same table getting stoned and agreeing on a storyline. It really is an easy writing technique taught in any middle school writing class: compare and contrast. If one side supports Ukraine the other has to be against it. If one side thinks the January 6 assault on the Capitol was a coup attempt, the other side believes it was freedom fighters taking the government back from leftists extremists who stole the election.
I would bet if we went to either political party’s House or Senate cloakroom late at night, and if we knew the secret knock, when the door opened, wafts of marijuana smoke mixed in with the aromatic smell of smoldering cigar smoke would greet us. We would see spaced-out senators like Ted Cruze as Baron Mordo, a man seeking to become the most powerful magician ever. On the other side of the Capitol we would find blitzed-out congressmen, like James Comer, sitting before half-scripted (Congressional investigations) comic panels as the Condiment King. Collider.com says, “Laugh all you want but he has a reputation…Condiment King may be goofy, campy, and pathetic, but that’s precisely the point. He’s meant to be a parody of the silly criminals that Batman used to fight back in the day.” And now that day is here in the Bizarro World. Stay away from the hot dog stand because you just might get splattered with mustard and onions.
And the looney left is not exempt from bizarre beliefs. We have been bombarded with its gender bending ideas. The English rock group, The Kinks, may have been way ahead of their time with their 1970 hit song Lola: “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls it’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up (Bizarro) world…”
But stay tuned. These bizarro characters are coming up with the next issue. It is sure to be action packed as the Culture Wars heat up. What set of books will be banned next? And who will be awake on the Woke battlefield to defend or attack the belief of systemic injustices in our society? And then there is the January 6 rematch when the Progressive Caucus will battle the Freedom Caucus in the Halls of Congress to see who can validate fake electors.
With the help of the news media, Congress has turned the functioning of the government into a world of opposites. It is a place where the House Democrats support a GOP Speaker. The GOP was a party that was a firm believer in what President George W. Bush called the Axis of Evil–Russia China and Iran. It was a party that was opposed to socialism. It opposed communist Russia from its inception. But now it is the party that snuggles up to the breast of Vladimir Putin for bedtime stories on the new kinder gentler Russian bear.
This is a bizarre world is where there are alternative facts, as if a fact is like rolling dice and picking which of the 216 possibilities you wish to believe is true. It is the believing science is really fiction, elections are faked and losers are winners. It is a place where college students think Hamas is fraternity and that October 7th was fraternity prank, a form hazing for the University of Gaza’s Rush Week.
We are living in a world where the concept that no one person is above the law. That equal justice under the law is just a suggestion. Some believe one certain elected official is above the law. This bizarro belief is being marched through the court system with legal impunity. Many legal minds are championing this idea of immunity. This concept is currently sitting before the Supreme Court. A Court whose wisdom and association with the Bizarro World is being questioned. The real bizarro question is: If one man is above the law, then is anybody below the law?
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