There may not be a more accurate phrase coined to describe our current civil conflicts than “culture war.” Because at the base of what we are experiencing is a backlash to significant changes in the culture–the hysterical reaction of White “Christian” folks–mostly but not exclusively male–to the growing participation of women, non-Christians and non-Whites in American society.
There’s some interesting research that suggest that culture will inevitably triumph over reaction–that efforts to return society to previous cultural norms (MAGA’s basic thrust) do not succeed in the long run.
What brought that research to mind was my recent experience in the Emergency Room (number #3, don’t ask–but I’m fine). During that visit, every doctor I interacted with (and there were four of them) was a woman, and every nurse who came to drink my blood and/or take my vitals was a male.
Those doctors are highly unlikely to discard their professions for a “trad wife” existence.
It isn’t just women. Rates of intermarriage between people of different races and religions have soared. Same-sex marriage has largely been normalized. I think of a woman who approached me after I’d given a talk at her church on anti-Semitism; she explained she was concerned about its growth because she had Jewish grandchildren.
These days, lots of nice White Christian Americans have grandchildren who are Black or Brown, Jewish or Muslim. Significant numbers of American families are “mixed” in one way or another. Even in small towns, more traditional families have come to know and work with immigrants of varying backgrounds, and are angrily objecting to ICE kidnappings.
In short, American culture has changed, and most of those changes are both positive and irrevocable. We are now engaged in an effort to protect those changes–an effort which requires us to protect democracy and the American Idea that made them possible.
Speak truth to power.
I was just thinking about this issue in another context this morning. A posting about the recent move by our state government to make education more like job training made me think about how that might play out for those affected and the communities they in which they live.
While there is not a thing wrong with opting for a trade or specialty instead of college of any kind at any age, the life experiences involved are likely very different. The consequences for the individual and communities also are impacted in both obvious and subtle ways.
Higher education opens doors and allows exposures that might not be available in trades which are by definition much more focused. They both have financial and social costs that should be considered long term for the individual.
College debt can be a real burden for years even decades. But trade certification also requires continuous re-certification for licensing, especially in the tech age where dependence on much more complex and rapid changes in tools, materials and regulation require continuous education or retraining. The individual may be lucky enough to work for a company that subsidizes continuing training and certification but still must commit to a term of employment to do so. Otherwise that cost of recertification, which can be thousands of dollars, is on the individual and may be a continuing cost of the occupation.
But perhaps the most significant differences are social and cultural long term. Four years or more of exposure to a wide variety of educational offerings and the side effects of that broad exposure cannot be dismissed so easily. Meeting people from all over the world, forming relationships that would not be possible in a shorter, more focused area of learning, expanding worldviews outside of the immediate community and being exposed to the lifelong pleasures in the arts cannot be discounted. Finding pathways that might never have been considered because they were never met, learning history and understanding the complexities of civic and cultural operations, being challenged to think critically about something other than the skills being learned all make for a more informed citizen. Isn’t that the purpose of education? At least, that is what the state Constitution’s stated goal states.
Letting business and commerce be the only opportunity for learning narrows the opportunities for all of us to have more to life than a job. Being forced to supply specialized skills to a sector whose only aim is more profit for themselves at our expense, letting that focus control all of civic and private life is the very definition of autocracy.
I hope you are right. There is talk of taking away woman’s vote, women losing government jobs, and woman are having less options in banking services.
There may be less of a culture war than at least half of Americans think. Take the recent controversy over an American Eagle Outfitters ad with actress Sydney Sweeney. The ad says “Sydney Sweeney has good jeans.”. Supposedly all the woke liberals are all outraged over the implied racism. Sweeney is white, blond, tall and thin and you can infer the ad could have used the word “genes”.
The reality is this whole “controversy” is more likely part of a right wing narrative that there was left wing outrage over this ad. It turns out that the true story is this is a manufactured issue by right wing media to prove the lib’s are too woke.
Here is a NY Times analysis of this: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/business/sydney-sweeney-ad-right-wing-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.c08.R4VL.B1pqyNrn-gV6&smid=url-share
I’m guessing the whole culture war thing is a well coordinated effort to distract a large chunk of an easily distracted portion of the population from the right”s true agenda,
things like the deeply unpopular Project 2025. With a deeply coordinated right wing media ecosystem, it gets amplified and more attention than it should, until it leaks into the mainstream (like this blog), but perception is reality so we will all have talk about it over and over again while the emperor fiddles and Rome burns.
Look at the ignorant assholes we have in power. Did anybody see Terry Moran’s interview with Trump? The one that cost Moran his job, along with calling Stephen Miller a “hater.” Trump had no clue what the Declaration of Independence was about. He thought it was about the “Civil War and unity.”
Do you think any of these MAGA fools know anything about “culture?” This is why they so quickly dismiss “left-wing” classes because they add nothing to the corporate world. They believe this is where students are indoctrinated into the “woke brain” or become “communists who don’t want to work.” Marxists teach anything taught outside the Tech and Business departments.
I also have had three hospital stays in a small local Indiana hospital, and the nurses were nearly all females, while the techs were mainly males. The doctors, hospitalists, and nurse practitioners were a mix of male and female, but from all different ethnicities. While I love seeing that, I can only imagine a MAGA patient’s thoughts when an Indian, Middle Eastern, or African doctor walks into the room. Holy calamity!!
I also have several extended family members, primarily males, who thought the world was ending because their daughters were dating a black man and the other was from Uganda. My hardcore racist cousin’s daughter got pregnant by a Ugandan man. Can you imagine how he reacts to that at night with his wife? He blocked me from Facebook because I wasn’t racist enough for him. #KARMA
One last note on education, since the COVID-19 pandemic, college graduates haven’t had to worry about their educational debt. That’s changed under Trump. He’s even ordering garnishments of wages and social security. And, guess what is spiking in massive defaults? People are having to choose what they can pay each month. However, if they get their wages garnished, food and shelter will be secondary to college loan payments.
JD, Nice idea about vocational education in public schools. BUT, equipment is expensive to buy and maintain. Liability insurance rates are exorbitant. There are WAY too few teachers qualified to teach most vocational classes. Mommies and daddies would rather spend $1500 to send their sons and daughters to cheerleader camp, or softball camp, or football camp, or … anything but pay respectable teacher salaries or intelligent curriculum funding.
Culture wars? It begins with the parents both involved with education and practicing what is preached to them in responsible forums.
I do hope you are right, but I still see the erosion of, if you will, “humanity” within the culture lasting for some sad while. The rise in ant-semitism, and violence, in general, is part and parcel of Trump’s impact and legacy.
I see the situation in Ukraine as a piece of the legacy of his first term, with his cozying up to Putin like a lap dog. You, know, he who “can not be played.” Right!
Watch out for Friday in Alaska.
I hope you are right but painfully allegorically share a personal experience. Circa 2019- W Lafayette HS classmate of mine- among the most progressive- posts a picture circa 1967 on FB – comments horrify- me – All Ignoring the large Confederate Flag- allegedly showing Rebels- Not “meaning “- slavery- I politely note- this – Silence- WLHS- then and now one of the Top Two Public high schools in IN- we the privileged white folks- are generally- easily Silenced- Fascism relies on Only the oppressed- seriously Resisting- Join Indivisible and organize in Muncie and Indy- the Cause needs our Deep Commitment! Now- not when they come for us! Resist Now!
We are NOT going back.
The real “culture war” is between those whose culture is consumerism, fandom and all things are amusement and any concerns about common good, justice and fairness.
We are not history, we are here and now, and though others in other times may have acted in various ways and by various means, we determine our actions now.
While you and I may not be in the most powerful positions now, we are not without power.
This gathering place is leverage, both in knowledge and in collective power. Our role is to take what we need from here, and spread it as far and as wide as we can. Others will do the same and we will determine the history that will one day be written about here and now.
I don’t know about other women but I will not give up my independence. There is nothing wrong with choosing not to have a husband or children. Especially while facing the current crises. I don’t want to raise a child in this current climate.
We always have refused to use the politically and linguistically correct term – “reactionary”. We worried about the “far left radicals” taking over our government, but they were never remotely close. Instead the “far right reactionaries” have, while we have been distracted.
Fortunately, I agree with Sheila’s conclusion. We have come too far to “return” to the reactionary dream of the past. Unless Fearless Leader is able to convince the army to commit mass murder of American citizens (a la Hong Kong), we will eventually come out of this and begin to rebuild a (hopefully) better government and society.
Amemrican Culture and American Ideals as we have known them, lived them, and been known around the world are being pushed for drastic change.
Hold tight to what you know as a higher and a greater good. Defend all our rights to rise above all the evil we are witnessing.
Join others who believe and support each other and chant and pray.