As my friend the
late, great Andrew Breitbart was fond of pointing out, politics flows
downstream from culture, and the results of the last election confirm that. Conservatives
lost last November in the political arena because for decades the radical left laid
the groundwork for it in the cultural
arena. Politics is obviously a critical battleground, but unless and until we
start thinking in terms of waging a vigorous cultural campaign, we will never
win another presidential election. Following is a rough beginning of some thoughts
toward that end.
There is no way the
radical and insubstantial Barack Obama would ever have been taken seriously as
a presidential candidate, much less be elected to two terms in the White House,
if the left had not successfully infiltrated the key cultural realms – education,
news media, and entertainment – and spent decades indoctrinating generations to
reject traditional American values, feel shame rather than pride in our
country’s history, and embrace their own enslavement to a big government,
post-American, cancerous ideology rebranded as progressivism. That
indoctrination runs so deep in too many American hearts and minds that not even
the reality of four disastrous years under Obama was enough to shock them out
of their irrational addiction to his hope-and-change snake oil. Deprogramming
that indoctrination and seducing subsequent generations to a renewed vision of
American exceptionalism means retaking the culture or creating a parallel one.
Speaking of conversion,
the significance of pop culture isn’t limited to its impact on American youth;
it affects our international standing as well. The critic Irving Kristol once
said, “A world power, if it is to maintain its position, needs to generate
respect for its culture.” Is America generating respect for its culture? Of
course not. And let’s be clear: here and abroad, Hollywood is American culture. The world looks to Hollywood as the barometer
of America’s moral and political character and direction. Generating respect
for our country again depends on conservatives taking the helm of our culture.
The first step
is simply getting conservatives to acknowledge the importance of the cultural fight,
and convincing ourselves to embrace popular culture, not reject it as we are
understandably inclined to do. Long ago we unwittingly ceded that arena to the subversive
left, with the result that we find ourselves and our values assaulted and
mocked mercilessly in the entertainment world. And how do we respond? Too many
conservatives say, “I’m done with Hollywood. I don’t go to their movies. I
cancelled my cable TV. I refuse to give them a penny.” Fair enough, but the
problem with that stance is that disengagement isn’t how you win a culture war.
Taking yourself out of the culture stream simply means that you end up as
marginalized as the Amish. So we have to acknowledge that winning the cultural
civil war requires that we get into the fray, understand pop culture, and commit
to transforming it in ways that convey our positive values instead of the
left’s nihilistic ones.
In the wake of the presidential election loss, conservatives
have agonized endlessly about our “message.” We need to get our message across
better, we say; we need to change our message, we need a more effective,
compelling messenger. Well, the best way to get our message across now is through
stories rather than political lectures, through values rather than political talking
points. Nobody likes to be preached to, not even the left, which is why leftist
message flicks like Matt Damon’s “Bush lied” anti-war movie The Green Zone and anti-capitalism Brad
Pitt flick Killing Them Softly bombed
in theaters. But people are seduced and changed by great stories, whether the
teller is a screenwriter or a politician.
Hollywood has been called the greatest propaganda machine in
human history. Maybe not for much longer. The rules are changing in Hollywood. Affordable
technology and the internet are changing and democratizing the way films are made
and distributed. We won’t have to depend on Hollywood gatekeepers anymore. The
big studios are occupied with making “tentpole” pictures – blockbusters – and they’ve
abandoned the middle ground to independents. So now it’s time for conservatives
to fill that void, create production companies or back such companies, and start
producing quality entertainment that represents us.
Is the culture war winnable? It’s possible but it’s a steep
uphill battle that requires a shift in conservative thinking. As my friend,
blogger and media consultant R.J. Moeller,
says, when young conservatives want to have a political impact, they move to Washington
D.C.; when young leftists want to do likewise, they move to Hollywood. That
needs to change. Our side needs fewer think tank policy wonks and more talented
filmmakers and television showrunners, more screenwriters and songwriters, more
novelists like Andrew Klavan, more TV
hosts like Greg
Gutfeld.
One optimistic perspective we can take to heart is that,
culturally speaking, the left is the “Establishment” now, to put it in 1960s
terminology. We are the outsiders,
the counterculture, the rebels with a cause. We need to revel in that underdog role
and embrace the challenge. The future of American culture – indeed, the future
of America – depends on it.
(This article originally appeared here on FrontPage Mag, 2/11/13)
