The World According to Ronald Reagan
Analysis of an '80s-era political poster, as seen through modern eyes

Over the past five years, the intense loathing of George W. Bush now known as Bush Derangement Syndrome has grown to such a fever pitch that it threatens to tear the country apart. Political analysts -- at least those who aren't BDS sufferers themselves -- are astonished at what seems like an unprecedented level of not just political vitriol but personal hatred directed at Bush and his view of the world.

But is Bush Derangement Syndrome really unprecedented in American history? A recent find throws doubt on that supposition.

Reagan Derangement Syndrome?

In early December, 2005, at a garage sale in Berkeley, I purchased for 25¢ a tattered poster entitled "The World According to Ronald Reagan." Judging from the historical clues of locales emphasized in the map (Grenada, Beirut, The Falklands) the poster appears to have been made at the end of 1983 or early 1984, possibly capitalizing on the presidential election that year.

Here's a photo I took of the poster -- it merits close inspection:



What's remarkable about this map is how little has changed in the 21 years since this map was made. True, some of the geo-political features have changed, but the attitude and overall worldview remains the same.

The map -- obviously designed by a Leftist Democrat -- purports to be a clever parody of the Republican mindset, but we can in retrospect now see that the map is not so much an insight into Reagan's world but rather a peek into what the Leftists imagined Reagan thought. As a result, the map serves to illuminate the Leftist worldview of the time, filtered through a parodic lens. Think of the map as an archaeological document that reveals the unconscious biases of its creators.

Let's take a closer look at the porion of the map depicted the Leftist version of Reagan's America:



It's also quite remarkable how similar this map is to the well-known "Jesusland" map that emerged after the 2004 election, highlighting the geopolitical divide between Bush supporters and detractors.

among those who define themselves as being on the "left" of the political spectrum Bush Derangement Syndrome Reagan Derangement Syndrome People think BDS is a unique modern occurrence. But actually the same thing happened during the Reagan admin, and during the nixon admin too. WHAT'S AMAZING IS HOW SIMILAR THE RDR exibitihnd in theis mapo is to bds nothing hs changed the key is the depiction of the USSR and its threat as imaginary -- mocking the reaganesque view of the USSR. But in what way is it inaccurate? It's complemtely accureate -- godless communists etc. It purposrt to be a satirical viewof how reaganites view the world . But the map iss muich more revealing than that: it is a window into how the leftists imagined the reaganites viedwed thwe world. "Extremist Muslims" on the map, even back then -- and also mocked as an imaginary bogeyman. Israel is shown as being HUGE,-- greater area than all of Africa. And why is BErirut in IStrael? The map of the US political landscpae is extremely revelatory: they purport to show the reaganite view of the US, but in fact they are revealing THIER view of the US, and then imnaginaing how the reaganoites would view the lefties map. Main themes: lefties thiunk they are being clever in parodying the mindset of the righties, but in acutality all they are doing is ofdfering awindow into their own mindset and the biases they take for granted righties identify a threat -- lefties deride then threat as imaginary imputations of racism with noi evidsence anti-israel/pro-oalestine Israel shown as actually larger than the enite Muslim world -- incredible bias the map od the US almost exactly mirrors the map of Jesusland frok 2004 they Dems think of CA and NE as huge and more important than the rest of the coutnry bechtel - -the only company mentioned on the map -- wasd the halliburton of its day Ebven bac k then it was "all about oil" -- the only commodity mentioned is oil "Negroes" is impolications of racism -- but no evidence that reagan was ever racist

Israel vs. Muslim world French map of Muslim world linktext linktext linktext linktext



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