TL;DR: I got time. Too cold to do anything outside or go anywhere. No work. Might as well INGO. People claiming they're not participating in the culture war are full of ****.
I talk to people who aren't like me. I want to know what they're thinking. When I talk to progressives about politics a theme I keep hearing during conversations is how xyz issue is being politicized. Okay, let's dig into that a bit. Who is politicizing it?
Oh. It's the right. They're politicizing covid. They're politicizing the vaccine. They're politicizing climate change. They're politicizing the economy. They're politicizing gun violence. They're politicizing sex education. Sexual orientation. Identities. Everything.
Wait. Do you not have a policy position you advocate for any of those things?
Well, of course I do.
You're politicizing it then. When you advocate for a policy on an issue, by definition, that's politicizing that issue.
No. I'm just saying what we should do about it to solve the problem. It's the right wingers trying to make it a left vs right thing. It's not left vs right. It's right vs wrong. I'm not left or right. I'm non-political. I'm just standing up for what is right.
Well so are right wingers.
Of course thinking they're being non-political is nonsense. They live in bubbles where they all believe the same things and reinforce each other with the same positions on everything. Both sides have their bubbles, but we're talking about the left bubble here. The bubble reinforces the thinking that they are in the mainstream worldview and that anyone who disagrees with them are on the fringe, whether or not it's actually fringe. Even a 60/40 split does not have a fringe. It's unearned arrogance to assume that their bubble is correct.
So now I'm starting to hear progressives express stuff about the culture war. Same kind of thing. They're not fighting in the culture war. It's those right-wingers. Some left leaning INGOers have sort of eluded to that sentiment in a few places here and there. I didn't want to address it there.
It looks to me like the idea expressed by progressives, that they don't care about or are not fighting in the culture war, is a lot like the claim, they're "not politicizing". I think, pretty much, unless you live under a rock, you're involved in it whether you think you are or not.
If you really don't care about the culture war, then not caring means you don't care if abortion is illegal or not. You don't care what's taught in school, school prayor or drag shows. Don't care. You don't care if gays get to marry or not. You don't care about any of the wedge issues either way. Ban guns. Don't ban guns. Don't care. To not care about the culture war means you don't care who wins. You're neutral.
I think such people are actually extraordinarily rare. I suspect instead, when people say they don't care about the culture war it's because the side of the culture war they're on--and they are on a side or they wouldn't need to signal their apathy about what you care about--they view their positions on things as being correct or normal. They do care about the culture war. They advocate for their normalcy just like they politicize issues by aligning with a side.
Saying they don't care about the culture war is not that they don't care who wins. It's that they don't care about the concerns and position of the other side of those issues. Well duh. They other side doesn't care about your support for gay marriage. It's probably just better to just say the truth, that you don't care what the other side thinks than to pretend you're not being political or participating in the culture war. But then the other side thinks the same thing about you.
I talk to people who aren't like me. I want to know what they're thinking. When I talk to progressives about politics a theme I keep hearing during conversations is how xyz issue is being politicized. Okay, let's dig into that a bit. Who is politicizing it?
Oh. It's the right. They're politicizing covid. They're politicizing the vaccine. They're politicizing climate change. They're politicizing the economy. They're politicizing gun violence. They're politicizing sex education. Sexual orientation. Identities. Everything.
Wait. Do you not have a policy position you advocate for any of those things?
Well, of course I do.
You're politicizing it then. When you advocate for a policy on an issue, by definition, that's politicizing that issue.
No. I'm just saying what we should do about it to solve the problem. It's the right wingers trying to make it a left vs right thing. It's not left vs right. It's right vs wrong. I'm not left or right. I'm non-political. I'm just standing up for what is right.
Well so are right wingers.
Of course thinking they're being non-political is nonsense. They live in bubbles where they all believe the same things and reinforce each other with the same positions on everything. Both sides have their bubbles, but we're talking about the left bubble here. The bubble reinforces the thinking that they are in the mainstream worldview and that anyone who disagrees with them are on the fringe, whether or not it's actually fringe. Even a 60/40 split does not have a fringe. It's unearned arrogance to assume that their bubble is correct.
So now I'm starting to hear progressives express stuff about the culture war. Same kind of thing. They're not fighting in the culture war. It's those right-wingers. Some left leaning INGOers have sort of eluded to that sentiment in a few places here and there. I didn't want to address it there.
It looks to me like the idea expressed by progressives, that they don't care about or are not fighting in the culture war, is a lot like the claim, they're "not politicizing". I think, pretty much, unless you live under a rock, you're involved in it whether you think you are or not.
If you really don't care about the culture war, then not caring means you don't care if abortion is illegal or not. You don't care what's taught in school, school prayor or drag shows. Don't care. You don't care if gays get to marry or not. You don't care about any of the wedge issues either way. Ban guns. Don't ban guns. Don't care. To not care about the culture war means you don't care who wins. You're neutral.
I think such people are actually extraordinarily rare. I suspect instead, when people say they don't care about the culture war it's because the side of the culture war they're on--and they are on a side or they wouldn't need to signal their apathy about what you care about--they view their positions on things as being correct or normal. They do care about the culture war. They advocate for their normalcy just like they politicize issues by aligning with a side.
Saying they don't care about the culture war is not that they don't care who wins. It's that they don't care about the concerns and position of the other side of those issues. Well duh. They other side doesn't care about your support for gay marriage. It's probably just better to just say the truth, that you don't care what the other side thinks than to pretend you're not being political or participating in the culture war. But then the other side thinks the same thing about you.
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