esrosedotblog

GIRDING FOR BATTLE

Interesting take on the culture wars. A new battlefield. Or fields.

The Culture War is Dead, Long Live the Culture War

To the extent that this new culture war resembles the old one, it is in the reversal of roles -- it is the right that is now largely defined by an identity politics which perceives persecution, and possible extinction, for a culturally constructed usually white, conservative, "real American." This isn't just about Obama or his agenda, which borrows heavily from earlier conservative ideas, it's also a response to anxiety over economic insecurity and fear of ideological annihilation through demographic change. Hence the burgeoning Islamophobia and calls to repeal birthright citizenship. [...]

[I]f Obama's election was a referendum on what it means to be an American, then the right's response can be seen as a large scale attempt to challenge the legitimacy of the results.... Sadly, Obama didn't end the culture war, his election just ushered in a new one. To the right, Obama's election wasn't a call for truce, it was a deliberate escalation.

Same warriors, different kind of war. The paranoia is constant and the fears. The same whack jobs.

I hate to pull my beard and say this but it has always been like this in my lifetime.

John Birchers and La Rouchers all tapped the same vein. Nativism.

Then there are the megaphone guys. The churches, Fox News, the wing nut blogs. Taking it to a higher pitch. And earning bucks along the way.

Labels: culture, republican whack jobs