Culture War

Culture wars are about the willingness to be disappointed in our fellow citizens. Godfrey says that in her excellent article in the Atlantic. And yet they create the very pessimism they feed off of. Here is a quote from a movie review of The Sound of Freedom from the Atlantic by ELAINE GODFREY:

"Kate Cox, a retiree from McLean wearing little flower earrings, told me before the movie that she was “a pro-life Catholic” concerned about the border. “That’s exactly what this is about,” she said. “They’re taking these people and selling them into sex slavery.” Cox and her girlfriends were also worried about the fentanyl coming in from Mexico: How hard would it be to put up a wall? “And the homelessness!” added Peggy, a friend of Cox’s who declined to share her last name. “Cities are falling apart.” Cox nodded. “Say what you will about Trump, and 99 percent of it’s true,” she said, “but this didn’t happen under Trump.”"

I can't help but judge these people, though if they were sister-in-laws or aunts and uncles, I would just roll my eyes, and think, "I'm supposed to love my family." But as fellow Americans judging from afar, not meeting them face to face but in a sentiment in a text, I can hate the sentiment.

Godfrey has the detail of flower earrings, they have an aesthetic for beauty when they're forcing their mind to think about sexual trafficking. 

I sometimes think conservatives are more accepting of evil and see evil located in government, when it's all around, it's also in individuals. They like the fights against evil they see, by individuals against systems. 

There's a lot of things I don't like about the government, but sometimes the government isn't active enough in fighting evil too. 

There are soccer fans that identify weak links in the team, and then look for confirmation. I like to find joy, so I can pay attention to the dark side.

It's an american work ethic that makes good citizens go to an improving movie instead of the fun one like Barbie. Godfrey describes going to a movie where everyone is excited by Barbenhimer and she's going to a sex trafficking movie.

She's got a really good quote of the actor who goes to right wing gatherings and says things like “the adrenochrome-ing of children.”

Back to the top quote, the fascination with keeping people out, the hatred of cities and urban problems. I love it that they say 99% of what you say about Trump will be true. That is a huge admission, but to move on from that I think says that emotionally they don't believe that. And the bizarre rewriting of the narrative to say Trump prevented anything... I think what Trump did was that he rewrote the narrative inside conservative skulls, and that seems like reality. 

The sick governor of Texas is putting razor blades in the Rio Grande to cut up children. That plays well with the "keep them out" crowd. The cities are burning like Sodom and Gomorrah. The reality is cities are the safest place in America because they have gun control. People sneak guns in, but in general it's hard to get guns, and one of the biggest problems in America is the ease you can get a gun. I was reading the other day that an 8 year old bought an AK 47 online and had it shipped to him. Yikes. Now America is trying to export that nonsense for profit. For me there's a special level of hell for that kind of behavior.

It's the same selfishness that has global warming runaway, out of control. They're talking about the Gulf Stream collapsing. Change is coming. But conservatives distrust larger interventions. That's where the scepticism comes from that it's contributed to by humans. It might not totally be proven. 

I know when I put forth my partisand culture war opinions, I'm putting forth my opinions based on my mind, and that in a democracy, there's all kinds of people. 

Some leave the game after Messi is taken off the field. Some people boo Sean Johnson. I would never do those 2 things. But I get it that people like the wall idea, worry about white replacement. I live in NYC so I'm comfortable being in a minority, and I hope for an America where being a minority is OK. It's OK to be a tool of marketing for a song written by someone who never lived in a small town. 

Godfrey ends the article:

"If people on the left are repelled by this movie, it’s for the same reasons people on the right feel so obligated to see it. Our political leaders, our social circles, and our chosen media have signaled in our echo chambers exactly how we should feel about it—and so much else, besides. Bud Light. Gas stoves. School libraries. The Target Pride section. Elon Musk’s Twitter. Luke Combs’s “Fast Car.” The entire Walt Disney Company. Lizzo playing James Madison’s flute. It’s exhausting. All I wanted to do was put on a pink dress and enjoy a movie about a plastic doll."

"What I have found is that throughout history, speeches by dictators and autocrats have one thing in common: they use dehumanizing metaphors to instill and propagate hatred of others." Politico