Red Rider were from Southern Ontario, a hotspot for SJWs. They were definitely vanity signaling about being better than extremists. “Against your final solution” was their 1980s version of modern Americans saying “punch a nazi in the face” but not finding any nazis to punch. Who in Canada (or the USA) was really planning a “final solution” in the 1980s? Pretty much no one. So Lunatic Fringe is bragging about being dominant over a very minuscule fringe.

I like the beat and melody of the song, and some of its lyrical imagery, even if its philosophical content just amounts to showing off moral superiority. One of the best uses of the song is in the 1985 movie Vision Quest when Louden Swain is psyching himself up for his big match against the ominous Brian Shute. It works fabulously instrumentally, but not so much lyrically.

Who’s the Lunatic Fringe in the movie? Shute or Louden? Shute is a hard worker, a two time state champ, a college blue chipper and scholarship recipient, and has the support of his entire school community and then some. He’s not fringe. Since he keeps his wrestling on the mat rather than getting in unsanctioned fist fights, he’s not really a lunatic either.

Louden used to live on a farm and only moved to Spokane and started going to that high school within the last couple years. He got good at wrestling by practicing against his wild man grandfather, who continues to live in isolation. Louden angers his wrestling coach and teammates by risking their team points for his personal quest. He shifts the representation of multiple weight classes on his team. He’s somewhat of a fringe athlete who even quips “it’s an individual sport.” Louden is also somewhat of a lunatic, in a good way. He writes school newspaper articles about the clitoris and supposedly aspires to be a gynecologist in outer space or something crazy.