On the Genius of FNB Politics: The Logic of Dreams

Digby pulls out the key chunk of my argument about FNB politics (what's FNB politics? Click here), and I want to make sure everyone sees it. Pull it out every time some numbskull says, "Only a hysterical liberal could argue that McCain's 'Celebrity' ad casts Obama both as a big, black stud and as Adolph Hitler":

It’s another tricky facet of writing about FNB politics: In a discourse that plays on half-conscious archetypes, opposites can cohabit comfortably—as in dreams. John Dower, for example, in his brilliant War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War, shows the simultaneous stereotypes of Japanese as pathetically weak midgets and indomitable giant monsters. Surrogates need only throw various archetypes “out there,” as they say; the dungeon that is the human subconscious can be counted on to do the rest.

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