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Here he is on Back to the Future's portrayal of the-then scary Libyans:
So as not to draw attention to themselves, the "Libyans" drive around wearing army fatigues and kaffiyehs. (You'll notice, or maybe you won't, that one of the clever "Libyans" is wearing a red-checked Jordanian kaffiyeh; is this intended as a disguise?) And then, of course, the "Libyans" are driving a VW bus, well known as preferred conveyance of your flag-burning, apple pie abjuring, third world liberation sympathizing hippie. And thus we have the marriage of two of the iconic signifiers of the betes noires of Reaganite Middle America. Unfortunately, the scene where the terrorists are reading Pravda had to be cut.While it's tempting to dismiss this sort of thing as "just a movie," it's important to understand how this sort of casual slander, the use of cultural signifiers to indicate "bad guy," can prepare a population to believe the worst about another people or culture, and to support disastrous and destructive policies towards them.He's even got the video. And in case you didn't know, Matt Duss is only one of the any great writers populating my sister site, Tapped.
