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https://medium.com/politically-speaking/why-the-right-loves-culture-wars-e8cb8378c43b>
"I’ve begun to see the Republicans’ constant flogging of culture wars as
political shithousery.
Soccer players who engage in shithousery are usually trying to accomplish one
of the following goals:
* Influence the officials in an attempt to get more favorable calls later on in
the game.
* Injure or intimidate opposing players.
* Distract the referee from events that are happening somewhere else on the
field.
* Or waste time in order to preserve their advantage.
This isn’t that far off of what right-wing culture warriors are trying to do
with invented or blown-out-of-proportion “controversies” about trans high
school athletes, the “war on Christmas,” or the idea that the government is
going to take your gas stove. You know the type of thing I’m talking about — an
issue that Fox News covers with wall-to-wall outrage for three weeks,
convincing its viewers that this is the end of America as they know it, before
dropping the matter the second they see another shiny culture-war object. It’s
not dissimilar to an athlete who goes down screaming in agony one moment only
to sprint off at full speed the next.
The main goal of culture-war nonsense is to cultivate an atmosphere of
perpetual grievance. The right has realized that its voters are most easily
energized by the idea that the world is set against them and that nobody
respects them (this is, by the way, a classic motivational tactic used by
coaches in soccer and every other sport).
It’s also an attempt to work the refs — in this case, the media and other
arbiters of public opinion. If Republicans can go on “Meet the Press” and spend
the whole time whining about how Joe Biden’s going to take away your
hamburgers, or how your kid’s third-grade teacher is going to make him change
his gender, they can set the terms of debate.
This is good for the Republicans because their plans for the important stuff
(economic policy, foreign policy, environmental issues, etc.) are either wildly
unpopular or nonexistent."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
