Post-Election Schadenfreude

Arnold Schwarzenegger helpfully tweeted this picture of himself yesterday

Watching FOX News now is like smoking the crack-cocaine version of schadenfreude.
— ArtForStrangers (@ArtForStrangers) November 7, 2012

There is so much to sift through, post-election, that it's going to take me some time to construct even a semi-coherent analysis. Not surprised that Barack Obama won; Mitt Romney was indeed the "John Kerry" of this election, and the fact that the GOP couldn't get it together to choose a more charismatic candidate is inexplicable to me.

Much post-election freakout happening from the far right, with Donald Trump calling for a "revolution":

Other pundits were also stoking the fire using terminology that speak to uprisings and civil war. I hope they are held accountable when such rhetoric makes people -- who are already ground down by the recession and a recent natural disaster -- snap. (Alex Jones continues to talk about Obama's "weather machine" that "caused" him to win the election; at least that is sort of entertaining, in an old-school "G.I. Joe" cartoon sort of way).

As always, Drudge Report, masters of the incendiary headline/image combo, posted this on their site this morning:

This is the new narrative you'll be seeing not only politically, but woven into our pop-culture. President Lincoln energy in pop-culture has been strong all year, culminating in the new Steven Spielberg movie:

Of course, a "Promoted Tweet" linking to the movie has topped "Twitter Trends" on the social media service this morning:

In contrast to the "Nation Divided" narrative of the far right, this Promoted Tweet -- essentially, a movie ad -- talks of a "Nation United." ALL "civil war" type narratives of one way or another. Then we had, of course, the pre-election "SNL" that just aired last Saturday, featuring Louis CK as Lincoln:

 I could go on with the Lincoln syncs all day -- that should be a separate post entirely.

But the world of comic books have been presciently entertaining the notion of a Nation Divided for months. The Marvel comic "Ultimate Comics Ultimates" features a fractured America (including "The New Republic of Texas," which must make Jones happy), and indeed has a map each issue so you can follow along:

After a night of viewing voter maps, the above is quite interesting. Needless to say, the narrative here features a lot of "uprising" masses and chest-beating about "their" America. Similarly, in a recent "Captain America" arc called "New World Orders," a pundit that I guess is sort of supposed to be Glenn Beck but looks uncannily like Alex Jones stirs up the masses to revolution. I'll be taking a closer look at both in future posts.

In other comics-related coverage, a Buzzfeed article entitled "America Votes Again For The Divided Government It Wants" features a picture of Batman:

Why bring up Batman again?

On Twitter, several people have even tied the Obama re-election to a sync/conspiracy (choose your  poison) involving the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. In a much quoted/retweeted message:

2005 - Obama sworn in as senator. Batman Begins.2008 - Wins Presidency. The Dark Knight.2012 - Wins once again. The Dark Knight Rises.
— Big Bird (@BigBirdRomney) November 7, 2012

Even the current writer of the comic "Batman" tweeted last night that "there is a little Batman in Barack."

Where am I going in this post? I feel like I'm all over the place, sort of just aggregating notions, fueled by lack of sleep and black tea.

As for my own feelings on the election -- didn't feel like I had too much of a dog in this race, one way or another. Preferred Obama to Romney, certainly. But I can't get caught up on one side or the other. I take each situation as it comes. I watch the wheels.