Due to time constraints and the typically high level of exhaustion I am working at, I can either stop writing or write when and what I can. Because I am so set on writing, I have decided to due just that and set aside time for myself to write what I can within a set time. These 403 words were wrought in the space of 10 minutes.
What do Adora, Luke Skywalker and I have in common? It isn’t our skin, hair, sex or mettle, though I have often arrogantly asserted I could be the heroic type if I had to be. We are all different in our essences, but we have all eaten of the fruit of great, destructive Empires. Born and into privilege by an accident of our births, raised in the safety of the powerful war state by our guardians looking to survive the harsh, brutal world.
Let’s set aside Skywalker for now, Adora in the DreamWork’s She-Ra really spoke to me. I identified with her so easily. She is an earnest youth trying to do the best she can. She may have little deviations from the straight path outlined by the Horde, but they are minor infractions. She is true to the society that has given her a safe place to flourish and the military that has given her life meaning. Adora enthusiastically pursues being a soldier and having a command because she is a good person. She appreciates the order and peace the Horde brings to Etheria and wants to spread it to the backwards and wild Princesses who’s culture and ideology leave a wake of destruction wherever they are allowed to gain root.
The Horde sounds so much like the Wilsonian Progressive America that I have been born into. The US sees much of the other world, the developing world as inferior. We have thrown off overt Imperialism for a coercive insidious form of foreign occupation. I have no problem with American culture spreading, especially organically. The spread of American culture helped bring down the Berlin Wall without us firing a shot or sending troops. The people rose up and made a change to their society from within. Our blue jeans and rock and roll helped fuel that, believe it or not, it is true.
Now the US Empire is actively trying to better the world and spreading chaos and suffering like in Afghanistan, Yemen and all over Africa. I once believed in the Neo-Conservative mission of America to bring order and democracy to the world, forcing our order like the Horde. Like Adora, I can see that the US fails to live up to the morals I thought it had and I refuse to silently go along with it, even though it might hurt me to stand out and loudly criticize my homeland.
MJ Muñoz 