Source: The UnPopulist
by Eric K Ward
“Every era has its witch. Every empire, its scapegoat. The person painted green so the rest of us can pretend we’re clean. That’s the real story of Wicked, the celebrated Broadway musical adapted into two feature films in 2024 and 2025 that are part origin narrative and part reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. … We are living through our own Emerald City moment. Propaganda repeats on loop; scapegoats fill the headlines; teachers are called indoctrinators; artists are called subversives; journalists are labeled enemies; officeholders from the opposition party are deemed America-haters. Entire communities are remixed into villains so authoritarians can stay in charge. Same playbook, new costumes.” (12/10/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/wicked-shows-us-the-moral-strategies