...I suppose it always comes down to "the Nazis" because that's the last war the (reluctant) US actually fought against a genuinely morally reprehensible enemy...although they have tried replacing them with assorted Jungle-bunnies and Towel-heads.
Alon Mizrahi I without equality there's no freedom @alon_mizrahi 16h
I made the terrible mistake of giving a chance to the last installment of Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) from last year. Every once in a while I'm giving in to a stupid urge to watch American mainstream cinema, and oh boy, do I always regret it after ten minutes.
A minute into the movie, the first swastikas appear, placing you safely in the warm embrace of the ultimate evil - and the ultimate good that fights it with so much grace and charm (Masha Allah).
Immediately I started thinking: imagine watching American cinema as a very old non-American. Perhaps even a German who never did a bad thing in their life and hated the Nazis with all their heart.
In the 1950s America already dropped two atom bombs on civilian population, helped the Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine, invaded and created a catastrophe in Korea, and installed a puppet ruler in Iran. In cinema, the bad guys are Nazis.
In the 1960s the Americans mass-murder tens of thousands of people in Vietnam, help arrange the genocide of a million people in Indonesia, and protect Israel's further ethnic cleansing and military occupation of the Palestinians. In cinema, the bad guys are Nazis.
In the 1979s the Americans are still butchering in Vietnam and Israel is deepening its military dictatorship, but the US is also involved in a series of coups, invasions, revolutions, and genocides around the world, from Chile to Argentina to East Timor. In cinema, the bad guys are Nazis.
In the 1980s the US protects Israel's invasion of Lebanon, and continues its worldwide orgy of terror and war, with noteworthy interventions in Chad, Nicaragua, Granada, and Panama. The CIA is the world's leading drug cartel and Americans are selling weapons to the Iranians after fomenting the Iraq-Iran war. In cinema, the bad guys are Nazis.
In the 1990s the Americans invade Iraq, but also help coups in Haiti and Zair. To finish the decade with a bang, in 1999 they bomb Yugoslavia. In cinema, the bad guys are Nazis.
In the 2000s the celebration intensifies with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the death, displacement, and destruction of millions. In cinema, well, Nazis.
In the 2010s the Americans bomb Lybia and Yemen, wreaking immense havoc and destruction. They help birth ISIS (knowingly or just as a spontaneous reaction to the chaos they were creating for a decade). They assist 'dissatisfied' Syrians in a bloody civil war that almost destroyed the country completely, and then they invade it. In Ukraine, they carry out a regime change operation that will have fatal consequences for the world. In cinema, the bad guys are Nazis.
In 2020s so much of the previous destruction still echoes and reverberates around the world. The Americans prevent understanding in Ukraine and do all they can to prolong and widen the war (after expanding NATO ridiculously when the Soviet Union is all but forgotten). They also support, arm, finance, and protect diplomatically Israel's horrendous genocide of the Palestinians. In cinema, as in popular culture and the most successful and mightily influential comic series, the bad guys are still Nazis.