If you're not familiar with it, The Plot Against America is an alternative history where Charles Lindbergh is president instead of Roosevelt's third term and keeps the US out of WW2. It's worth watching if you can download/stream it, so maybe do that first if you don't want spoilers
spoilers from here on out
They make a lot of interesting choices that I'm curious how possible/popular they would have actually been. Like, I know there was pro-nazi sentiment but I thought it was pretty quickly soured the moment they invaded uhh poland right? 'cause nobody cared about the czech invasion right? idk I forget this stuff.
Also, it's kinda interesting seeing how the anti-communist stuff would have played into supporting a war effort; the US was obviously rabidly anti-communist ever since daddy marx invented it I guess right? but it does get especially weird when you think about pro-nazi sentiment being popular enough to also play into it.
And last; in the last scene, what do you think they are saying with the election tampering stuff? Who was it in favor of?
so first off; YESSSSS FEED ME YOUR LONG COMMENTS
secondly, thanks for reminding me about the podcast I'm def gonna listen to it
third; yeah herman's definitely got lefty who's too into electoral politics energy and I feel super called out by it lol
fourth; you make a great point about how if the US had just kept selling japan oil they never would have set their sights eastward and how it was pretty much internal politics in the US that could have done that. and how without pearl harbor there's no popular feeling of "it could happen here".
fifth; I definitely thought the part about the election was great for the same reasons; the complacency of voting saving you is way too strong in the US and these things are way too close to assume there will never be election interference that works. I would have been pissed if it went with a "just vote and everything goes back to normal" ending. god that would have been insufferable.
With the election I think it was kinda confusing because after the whole bit of italian solidarity it was an italian mobster type pulling a voting machine out of the polling station but I guess they were going for the gladio shit by reminding you there were right wing italians.
Glad you enjoyed my long post lol. Feel free to reply to me/send me a message about the podcast if you want to discuss it. I have some other random thoughts about the show. Every once in a while in the show you can tell that they're making a Trump comparison, I can't think of specific examples but some of Herman's rants had some serious "2016 lib complaining about trump" energy. I actually don't mind the comparisons that much in this show since they're kind of justified with all the similarities. They're both demagogic celebrities that talk about America first. It feels like they avoid the dumb "isn't this just like Trump?" that a lot of media can fall into.
Also I totally forgot that the creator of this show, David Simon, also made The Wire which I've never watched but have heard a lot of good things about even from leftists. Just from reading about it definitely criticizes capitalism directly which is nice.
I just found this line on his Wikipedia page
During a November 2013 speech at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney, he said that America has become "a horror show" of savage inequality as a result of capitalism run amok, and that "unless we reverse course, the average human being is worth less on planet Earth. Unless we take stock of the fact that maybe socialism and the socialist impulse has to be addressed again; it has to be married as it was married in the 1930s, the 1940s and even into the 1950s, to the engine that is capitalism."
I think that quote explains what his intention was with Hermann. He gets so close but he just can't imagine the end of capitalism. I do wonder if this is just a pragmatic stance or if he is legitimately opposed to getting rid of capitalism if given the opportunity. I still think the show is great and obviously the creator's intention isn't everything when it comes to a show with so many people working on it. I do think Alvin is a more solid leftist character. He never really explains his political beliefs but his unapologetic anti-fascism no matter where he is in the show is something I can get behind.
I just got back from a little driving trip to see my sister and her new baby and had a bunch of time to listen to the podcast and I really loved getting that background on the production, thanks again for reminding me about it.
The Wire is SO FUCKING GOOD, watch the hell out of it. I grew up nearish to Baltimore around the time period of The Wire and it's wild how even a show that's ostensibly about how the cops are fucked as an entire institution, they still make the cops in the show 10000x better than actual baltimore police. I won't spoil what's in the show, but just imagine the whole show being cops that are the bad guy cops and you have a way more accurate depiction of the BPD
And with Herman and capitalism I feel like their passing line about debs makes it kinda weird how absent class rhetoric is from herman's criticisms. I guess the production was more interested in a cohesive narrative and couldn't get into the weeds on every facet of his politics but it does seem weird that herman theoretically voted for debs but never mentions the angle that capitalism takes in lindbergh's presidency outside of one kinda shoehorned scene with his brother that kinda feels forced or unbelievable.