A lot has been written about the American culture war. As the country rips itself apart, the general mainstream thought is that Republicans, particularly in the new age of Trump, have abandoned any semblance of policy to win voters and have moved on to hot button culture issues to rile up their base to the voting booth. There’s some truth to that, but I’d argue that it’s not really a war anymore, that the so-called “culture war” has been won and over for many years, if not decades. But while conservatives have lost that war, they’ve won many others and, quite possibly, the direction of the country as a whole.
Before we get into it, we should probably define what ‘culture wars’ we’re even talking about. Culture is obviously a big word and can mean anything and everything about a country and its society. In this context, when we talk about culture wars we generally talk more about what we consume in our entertainment, how we react to socially-charged issues, and what we considerate acceptable forms of communication in everyday life. These culture wars resolve around issues like trans bathroom rights, toxic masculinity, what words not to use to describe people, etc.
The prime example of the kind of culture war we’re talking about is Gillette’s recent commercials that implore men to be better that sparked stark backlash from conservative men. Or of Nike partnering with Colin Kaepernick that caused the foaming rage from conservatives to burn their own shoes. Think, in general, of how representative our entertainment has become in a brief period of time. Not just films and TV and video games, but commercials and other types of advertisements.
We Believe: The best men can be | Gillette
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPPf3sZIo-Q
The truth is that war we keep talking about is in the history books. It’s over, at least on a grand scale.
It’s been a messy process, and it’s far from perfect. It’s also easy to say a lot of that is just corporations pandering for more money, but the fact that they are pandering in this way says a lot about where we are. Mainstream media aimed at conservatives either flop or have a very small, if dedicated, fanbase (the key exception is obviously Fox News, but that’s entirely on how you chose to define that network as “entertainment”). You’re not going to see a major corporation going all in trying to court that audience, because they know the backlash to it would be intense, but more than that, they simply know that the majority of people don’t want it to begin with. It’s hilarious to see all these conspiracy theories in conservative circles about how the SJWs or whatever are out to wipe out their ideals when the simple truth is most of what they want just doesn’t sell, because the culture, by and large, has rejected it.
So, why does it feel like none of that matters?
While the culture in the social sense has become more liberal, the broad make up the political environment around us has become increasingly rightwing.
As our society has gone one way, the undersurface has gone a very different direction. While our entertainment and consumerism has diversified at a rapid pace, Republicans have been winning elections, using obscure rules to clog up our political governing bodies and are now busy putting as many judges in lifetime seats as possible. Not just two Supreme Court seats, either. At the pace that Trump is going he’ll get more lifetime judge appointments in his first term than any other President’s first term. And if he gets a second term and continues at that pace, he’ll get more than any other President in history.
Part of that was complacency on all liberals. Think how little talk there was on the left about the Supreme Court seat that was vacant during the 2016 election versus how it was a defining one for conservatives. That aspect became a blind spot for many liberals. Now they’re all sweating buckets, praying to who or whatever that Ginsberg can somehow survive six more years of Trump. You’d think it would be a rallying cry to end all rallying cries in 2016, but it wasn’t.
It is more complicated than that, of course. Part of this is also because there’s far more money flowing from the right into politics than the left. The Koch brothers alone spend millions of dollars to push rightwing policies and talking points. Outside a few exceptions, like the ever demonized George Soros, there’s not nearly as many putting their resources into liberal and leftist causes.
We’re seeing the beginnings of this clash as Republican lawmakers are rushing to pass antiabortion laws. Most Americans identify as pro-choice, or at least see no issue with access to abortion and see it as settled law, but there’s a scramble to overturn Roe v. Wade. What’s left of the judicial branch has held it off still, for now, but extremists are being put on the benches at a rapid pace, so it’s only a matter of time. The recent Rucho v. Common Clause ruling has opened the door for the GOP to continue partisan-based gerrymandering so they can no longer be in jeopardy of losing major power ever again. These are just the first clashes of a socially liberal society with its conservative (and increasing authoritarianism-based) lawmakers.
The next logical question is how do we address all this?
Well, to be frank, I have no damn idea.
I’m not even sure if Clinton had won in 2016 had it mattered a lot, especially since it’s likely the Senate and House would still probably be lost even if she had, but with Trump’s win it makes me think ultimately it’s something that’s irreversible. Even if Trump gets bored with his job and leaves the office tomorrow, the damage dealt is still there and the underlying issues that lead us here are still present.
It’s not that culture, as we’re defining here, doesn’t matter at all either. The case that legalized gay marriage, Obergefell v. Hodges, was undoubtedly influenced by the way in which LGBT individuals have become more accepted and represented in our society through the means mentioned earlier. We possibly wouldn’t have the diverse cast of Democratic candidates we have now without the kind of spreading diversification we’ve seen. My overall point should be that while things like representation in media, pointing out hypocrisy with sick dunks on Twitter, and more progressive attitudes in society at large are all great things, they don’t equate to actual laws. Laws and the protections they bring are the true endgame that is slipping away.
Many Americans (particularly white Americans who lived comfortably) don’t have a frame of reference for a society at large that feels one way, and a government that demands we live another. While we often think of nations with dictatorships or authoritarian regimes in monolithic terms when we haven’t live in them, they are by definition a small group taking control of everything no matter what the “culture” wants.
It can be hard, maybe even impossible, to keep your eyes on everything at once. I would never advocate for people to stop paying attention or pushing for better culture in the way of strong representation and social awareness, but I do think at some point a lot of people did take their eyes off the things that really define what our country will be, which lead to the disaster we’ve found ourselves in that may be inescapable at this point. We have a lot of new, young and diverse lawmakers coming to Washington, so that’s good. The only hope is that isn’t too late, and that this shaky culture we’re building isn’t soon about to have the strong grip of fingers gripped around its neck.
Photo: Fibonacci Blue