Applied Awesome – Motivated Creativity and Political Satire in the United States

Politics is a funny game; nowhere more so than in the United States of America.  The brand of politics practiced in the United States is particularly entertaining and not a little bit disturbing being, as it is, an example of diametrically opposed philosophical interests playing out their mutual enmity in a highly theatrical manner taking the political process from the realm of social theatre to high farce.

As a prelude to the political race for appointment to public office there is a warm up race to see who the starters in the main race will be.  That race is carried out in public with all the campaigning that goes with a political campaign with all the trimmings and by trimmings I mean back-biting, finger-pointing, mud-slinging and name-calling.  Fun for the whole family really.

As you would expect with a fully fledged political campaign there is a full, forthright and impassioned exchange of views about core values, beliefs and personal policy views and agendas.  Now that gets particularly entertaining when you look at the Republican Party Nomination Race.  Basically it is a competition to best each other as to ‘how right-wing and conservative are you?‘

Unsurprisingly and somewhat amusingly this farcical theatrical roadshow gains a fair bit of scrutiny and attention from the political and ideological opponents of the runners in this warm up race.  Again unsurprisingly, and pursuant to their first amendment right to freedom of speech and expression, they feel bound to comment publicly.

Now one of the contestants in ‘How far right-wing are you?‘ is a gentleman from Pennsylvania named Rick Santorum. Mr Santorum is a member of the Republican Party and seeks their nomination for the right to contest the Presidential Race – most likely against incumbent Barack Obama.

Mr Santorum’s stance on issues such as homosexuality, intelligent design and free and independent thought have offended many on the liberal side of American politics and ideology.  So much so that Mr Santorum has become a target for some very creative political satire from his ideological opponents.

One very creative, highly skilled individual with too much time on his hands and access to a large quantity of homosexual pornographic material has created a homage to Mr Santorum by reproducing his campaign photograph as a photo collage composed entirely of gay porn images.

Now that is Awesome in action or as we like to call it – Applied Awesome!