The Real Culture Wars

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Real-Culture-Wars-by-Dr-Stuart-Jeanne-B-110621-98.html

The term "culture wars," as used by the mainstream media, seems to have two distinct meanings. It's most commonly used to refer to the so-called "class of civilizations" between western democracy and societies where Islam is the primary religion. As Lila Rajiva points out in the Language of Empire, the US media also has an unfortunate tendency to misrepresent Islamic societies as tribal and uncivilized.

In another context, the US media uses the phrase "culture wars" to describe the red/blue state clash, which depicts red states as populated by highly religious, family-centered conservatives concerned about individual liberties and blue states as peopled by social libertines who value community welfare over individual liberty.

The US Class Divide: the Real Culture Wars

I totally agree with Rajiva's view that both so-called "culture wars" are artificial, manufactured by the mainstream media to keep the American public from uniting against their common enemy, which is the corporate state. I also believe the media deliberately conceals the real cultural divide, which is between the 20% of the population who comprise the professional/academic class and the 80% who work for near minimum wage. In my view these firmly entrenched class divisions are the primary obstacle to building an American mass movement, comparable to those taking the streets of the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

More at the link --

[Armstead]

1. Interesting article

I don't agree with all of it, but it is an interesting example of how to expand the dialogue about these issues by thinking "outside the box."

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

2. Umm.

I can't see this one going over very well with many folks here. :yoiks:

"Progressives need to take a hard look at their association with "lifestyle" campaigns, such as anti-smoking, anti-obesity, vegetarianism and gun control. Many low income workers tend to view these as personal freedom issues and the middle class progressives who champion them as moralizing busy bodies."

It's a good article, though. Thank you for the link.

[starroute]

3. That sort of line just gets me angry

It's trivializing the concept of culture war by attempting to redefine it as class warfare -- and then saying that middle-class liberals have to abandon their ideals of a healthier, cleaner, and safer world and pander instead to minimum wage workers who are used to living on junk food and tobacco.

There's something very warped and ultimately self-defeating about that. It tells us to set our sights lower instead of higher, and that's got to be wrong.

On edit: Thinking about it a bit more, I realized that part of what bugs me is that the whole "freedom of choice" line is one that has always been used by mega-corporations. The tobacco industry used it in the 90's. The soft drink industry used it a year or two ago to head off legislation that would tax their products -- running commercials with lines like "who needs another tax" and "don't you know what's best for your family."

Beyond that, it's part of the whole issue of reducing citizens to consumers -- and convincing people that being able to choose among 27 different varieties of junk at bargain-basement prices is a meaningful substitute for genuine autonomy and decent wages.

As we used to say in the 60s, it's part of the problem, not part of the solution.