One of my biggest complaints when it comes to my fellow conservative minded individuals is the absolute disdain that is shown towards pop culture. Complaining about the President going on late night talk shows, boycotting going to the movies because of the “liberal elitists,” it just reinforces the stereotype of republicans being a bunch of boring Lawrence Welk listening to prudes.
While conservatives like to avoid pop culture, the simple truth is that conservatives are a huge part of pop culture — and not a good part. We are the butt of everyone’s jokes, yet we don’t do anything about it but cry like a bunch of babies, take our balls and go home.
The front lines of the culture war is where the fight for America’s future will be won or lost.
To the casual low information voter, the GOP is filled with uncool, rich old white men who hate minorities.
As long as we stay on the sidelines instead of actively participating in the process, in the national arena these are the myths that will continue to be spread about us.
To the average American, who would you rather want to sit down and drink a cold one with, Mitt Romney or Barack Obama? To those who don’t actively engage in politics on a daily basis (most of America) the answer is not the uncool rich white guy.
If you win the culture war, you win the hearts and minds of the people, the left knows this and they play the game great. Once you build trust with the people on the little things that fill up the pop culture wasteland, they start to listen to you on the important things.
Brandon over at Misfit Politics has a great post up about how, “Our cultural ignorance is killing us and this country.” Here’s a snippet:
Is it so bothersome that someone has a different opinion than you, that you have to reject them and their craft outright? Have we chosen to close ourselves off from the rest of the world if their opinions don’t fall in line with ours?
Have we really become so like progressives in that regard?
I’ll give you a perfect example of my point.
Super Bowl halftime shows are often over-sexualized performances with half naked (one time actually naked) stars shaking their junk around while background dancers move provocatively to the music. If you’re like me, you cried foul. There are children watching this, and this is what they presented as family entertainment? We wanted something fun, and clean.
Then, last Super Bowl we got it when Bruno Mars took the stage. Talk about talent! The show he and the Red Hot Chili Peppers put on was energetic, fun, and didn’t rely on a tired strip show routine to make it interesting.
Yet still the disapproving tweets were ridiculous.
“Why should I watch this? It’s just more liberal tripe.”
“Just another Obama voter getting a big stage.”
Etc…etc….et-frickin’-c.
Perhaps Bruno Mars did vote for Obama. Perhaps he’s a liberal.
Who cares?
The man’s good-natured show did nothing but cleanly entertain. There was no politics involved. It had no political significance until we injected politics into it. This bothers me greatly.
Conservatives complain all the time that we are held back in the entertainment industry because of our beliefs. The claim isn’t a false one, yet we do the exact same when the opposite gets up to perform, no matter how small the offense. Even if it’s retaliatory, it’s hypocritical.
Read the whole thing here.
I’ll finish with this quote from the late, great Andrew Breitbart,
“Once you see what their plan was, you realize that it was implemented. It was taking over the cultural institutions. The left is smart enough to understand that the way to change a political system is through its cultural systems. So you look at the conservative movement—working the levers of power, creating think tanks, and trying to get people elected in different places—while the left is taking over Hollywood, the music industry, the churches.”
