Max Headroom and the 2012 Election
It’s now just a few days to the US General Election and I need to get something out of my system, with this disclaimer: this will be my one and only political post for this election year. I am increasingly annoyed by blogs, news organizations and Twitter feeds that habitually refer to Mitt Romney as a reincarnation of Max Headroom. Nothing could be further from the truth. I also do not believe that his opponent, President Barack Obama, is Max, either, or any other politician for that matter. The gleeful misidentification of a particular politician as Max begins back in Max’s heyday, the closing years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, when cartoonist Garry Trudeau decided that President Reagan acted as a Max Headroom-esque character (Trudeau referred to him as ‘ Ron Headrest ’). Here’s the bad news for everyone who wants to compare Max to a politician: it’s just not possible. Trudeau revealed his ignorance in the mid-1980’s, and others have been following his lead ever since....