Posted on 06/04/2019 4:39:58 PM PDT by Oklahoma
Can you stand one more addition to the discussion on the Ahmari-French debates?
The most positive assessment I can make of Sohrab Ahmari’s side of the argument is that many of us on the Right want to believe that we have a free and fair system for expressing our views and attempting to get the government to enact the policies we want, and under the law, we do. But in practice, the deck is stacked particularly high against conservative Christians, and some of our country’s most powerful institutions are less inclined to even give lip service to the concept of treating all citizens and viewpoints with respect or even permitting free expression.
The alliance and ideological monoculture of big media institutions, Big Tech, Hollywood, the rest of corporate America, and educational elites means that publicly arguing for the conservative Christian viewpoint can be not merely ineffective but economically dangerous. Brendan Eich gets tossed from a company he founded, the Little Sisters of the Poor get taken to court if they don’t offer birth control, and somehow YouTube has decided that Dennis Prager is the world’s most dangerous man. Our cultural debates are held with one side having regular access to powerful reinforcements. A drag queen who wants to set up readings in the children’s section of the local public library will usually get celebrated and defended, but the parent who objects will likely get publicly demonized and possibly fired from his job for “hatred” or “intolerance.”
Periodically you’ll see conservatives asking why their side hasn’t formed its own tech giants, its own online social networks, its own far-reaching television media (beyond Fox News), and its own powerful cultural establishments that would ensure that conservative Americans’ voices and beliefs always would have a safe harbor and institutional protections. (Er, maybe it’s partially because $127 million to $177 million of grassroots donors’ money was wasted on PACs that didn’t use it to help the candidates as promised!)
But as Rich observed about the “what and the how,” once you’re done objecting to the state of things, it’s not quite clear what the next step is, beyond various “fight harder!” slogans. Ahmari wants conservatives to “fight the culture war with the aim of defeating the enemy and enjoying the spoils in the form of a public square re-ordered to the common good and ultimately the Highest Good.” Okay, what does that mean in terms of policy proposals and tactics that the conservative movement isn’t doing already?
It’s worth keeping in mind, no matter how we do this, we’re going to get some fierce debates among conservatives about what constitutes the common good.
If we want a more family friendly culture, what should be done about pop culture that’s full of sex and violence? Do we want the federal government to take a larger role in restricting access to programming deemed objectionable? Forget Game of Thrones and its audience of depraved degenerates like, er, David French; what about, the sleazy, lurid and vulgar tone of, say, professional wrestling? Could you imagine if we had a president who ever partook in all of that . . . er, never mind. We can prosecute sex traffickers and unite in disdain against prostitution, but has keeping it illegal in most places proven effective? There are reportedly more illicit massage parlors in the United States than Starbucks cafes. The issue of transgender rights seems to be a flashpoint for these debates. Just what do we want to do when some teenager declares that they’re transgender? (A lot of conservatives will prefer the answer, “nothing, because it’s none of my business; that’s an issue for that teen, his or her parents, and maybe the family doctor.”) We’re a country that’s founded on Judeo-Christian values that’s also pluralist, so how much say do religious minorities and atheists get in all this? Mind you, if we’re living in an era of growing anti-Christian attitudes, it is simultaneously occurring as the abortion rate hits a record low, the divorce rate continues its multi-decade decline, and charitable donations to religious organizations continue to rise. We’re that weird kind of post-Christian country where 70.6 percent of Americans identify as Christian.
Finally . . . this is a really awkward moment to argue that American society’s sense of right and wrong, responsibility, accountability and ethics should be shaped by the Catholic Church.
Normals get to use the remains of OPFOR as mulch?
Easy.
When I have the better argument I win.
We have seen this time after time in the comments section of NYT, WaPo and of course, The Hill.
EVERY TIME my argumentation and facts are superior, the lefties acknowledge it and withdraw.
(Do I REALLY need the /SARC tag????)
bkmk
If all believing Christians would simply turn off their TVs, social media, fake news, and stop going to movies for 6 months you would see a huge difference in the culture.
As long as Christians live like the world does the world will pay no attention and keep on doing what it is doing.
I was dismayed the other days to hear supposed Christians talking about Game of Thrones and the “ending.” What the hell are Christians doing watching something like Game of Thrones?
bkbm
IMHO, so called “culture wars” are a waste of time. I’m not gonna change my opinion and neither are they.
The FReeper responses to leftist and RINO articles posted here are a perfect illustration of my point. Lots of hubbub, little affect.
It means defeating covert anti-Americanism.
Best example of navel-pondering I’ve seen all day.
There’s an actual war going on underneath.
Exposure will kill all of it.
To crush [them], to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
That’s a good point. There is a much large war of good and evil going on in the spiritual realm, we are only seeing the surface ripples.
In terms of the so called ‘Culture War’ the Right is far too reactive both philosophically and in action.
Philosophically, the Right needs to move beyond the Leftist created dichotomy that left=change and right=no change and offer a positive affirmative vision beyond simply holding out as long as possible while their opponents chip away.
In Action, the right needs to get off their butt and do something besides simply reacting to everything the left does. The left understands this is a total war and are waging it in culture in the classroom and across all institutions. The right on the other hand fights the war through politics and explicitly political processes, ie protesting. The Leftists know that they don’t need to always call attention to what they are doing. Leftwing philosophy is fed subtly to your family through the Disney movie you go watch and the HR policies at your work. You think just the ballot box will counter that.
Right. And what you said earlier about Christians turning off the television, fake news and asocial media is totally true.
First, DESTROYING iSLAM!
When the deep state is dead, Islam will be harmless.
For example, educate Americans about Project Paperclip and its effects on culture.
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