You’ve probably seen that series of satirical posters where doctoredillustrations from World War II propaganda critique the American War onTerrorism and the U.S. Patriot Act:

  • Be a Good American! Don’t Try to Think!
  • Patriotism Means No Questions: A Message from the Ministry ofHomeland Security
  • Thanks, Corporate News! We Couldn’t Control thePeople Without You
  • Etc.

Then you’ll recall those widely received e-mailsthat showed George Bush’s facial expressions compared with those of achimpanzee, and the post-election map of North America divided into “TheUnited States of Canada” and “Jesusland.” Flip through your localalternative broadsheet, even, and you’ll find fridge-door-friendly comicstrips by activist-cartoonists like Ted Rall, Tom “This Modern World”Tomorrow and David “Get Your War On” Rees.

Are all these clever snippetsof pop-culture pranksterism, vital voices of populist dissent, or both?

None of the above. Far from being inspired pieces of agitprop for the21st century, the snide digs lately aimed at everything fromAmerican foreign policy to the Conservative Party’s same-sexskepticism (“It’s the Charter, Stupid,” smirked lapel buttons worn at therecent Liberal convention) to reality itself (“You Are Being Lied To,” is atypical title from publishers The Disinformation Company, Inc.) mostlyunderline the desperation now plaguing progressives’ attempts to convey aneffective message to a wider audience.

Like the pious 1980s bumper sticker“You Can’t Hug a Child With Nuclear Arms,” jokes about Stephen Harper’shelmet hair and the U.S. president’s resemblance to a monkey play to agallery of the long since converted; their persuasiveness factor stands ata flat zero. If you’re already convinced of the evils of Yankeeimperialism or Canadian consumerism, then the latest issue of Adbusters or a download of “You Back the Attack — We’ll Bomb Who We Want” makeperfect accessories, but if you remain undecided, they’re pretty lamearguments for the cause.

Too comical or too cool?

The most notorious “arguments,” of course, are those of Michael Moore. Thebestselling author of Stupid White Men and Dude, Where’s My Country?and director of hit documentaries Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit9/11 has earned critical carps in direct proportion to partisan loyalty.

Indeed, the selectiveness and simplifications in his work have given evenMoore’s political sympathizers pause: in the liberal U.S. journal Dissent, academic Kevin Mattson worries over the dumbing-down effects ofFahrenheit‘s shaky mix of irreverent comedy and serious reportage, notingthat, “Political values are like lifestyles today, and you seek outaffirmation rather than criticism or questioning.” His cautionaryconclusion is, “[The left] has to get its viewpoint out there and, at thesame time, ensure that public debate isn’t degraded in the process.”

Canadian writers Andrew Potter and Joseph Heath take this line further in their recent book,The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can’t Be Jammed. Theproblem with Adbusters and other supposedly nonconformist expressions,they suggest, is that they cater to an exclusivity among their adherents,who end up devoting more energy to preserving their own hipness rather thandoing meaningful good in the real world.

Similarly, the scathing put-downsof Tom Tomorrow and countless bloggers (“If You’re Not Paranoid, You’re NotPaying Attention” is a common refrain) flatter their devotees whilepromoting a corrosive cynicism about positive change: Everything’s goingto hell, their subtext runs, but at least our little clique is cool enoughto be aware of it. As Hunter S. Thompson found out the hard way, suchself-congratulation soon deteriorates into self-marginalization, and fromthere to self-destruction.

Unfortunately, it’s a lesson left-leaners have yet to learn (see Parrish,Carolyn). Somewhere, George Bush, Stephen Harper, gay marriage, missiledefence and global warming are still discussed and disputed in good faithand good humour. But as the knowing laugh increasingly takes the place ofthe constructive proposal in public discourse, we will be left with moresmug and snickering websites, parodies, caricatures and cheap shotstailored solely for whichever sliver of the electorate is assumed to be inon the joke.

Never pretty to begin with, the culture wars are getting ugly — and never very constructive, their futility is on display attheatres, TVs, computers, magazine shelves and bulletin boards very near you.