Six Key Battles Currently Being Fought In The Culture War
In this installment of their weekly Sunday Six conversation, PF Whalen and Parker Beauregard of The Blue State Conservative discuss six critical battles of the culture war being waged right now.
#6: Resistance is building against the left’s sexual and gender values being taught in schools.
PF: The most intense of the culture war battles tend to be centered around schools, and for good reason. We, as parents, have sharp protective instincts, and nothing triggers them quite like schools trying to indoctrinate our kids. Many parents have only recently become concerned. When kids were kept out of school and forced to learn remotely, moms and dads were enlightened.
The hotspot for this debate, like several others in the culture war, is in Florida right now. A bill making its way through the Sunshine State’s legislature is being mischaracterized by the left as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. But that’s not what it’s about; far from it, in fact. The bill prohibits schools from teaching primary school children (grades 3 and younger) about sex and gender period, not just homosexuality. It also requires schools to notify parents if their child indicates alternative sexual tendencies in school. Such situations would include if a child openly questions his or her gender, or if they proclaim they are homosexual. The bill is wholly reasonable, which is why the left is so passionate in their opposition.
Leftists believe that they, not parents, should be the ones instilling values in our nation’s children. If a father explains to his daughter that girls are girls and boys are boys, that’s problematic and must be stopped. If a mother teaches her son that God wants him to wait until marriage to have sex, and that marriage should be to a woman, such talk is homophobic and bigoted in their view. But this is a losing battle for the left, and a winning one for the right. Conservatives need to stick to their values and take issues like this head-on. It’s the right thing to do, and it will help them at the ballot box.
#5: Women demand equality when it suits them, and only when it benefits to identify what a woman is.
Parker: In case you missed it, the United States Women’s National Team was awarded back pay to address “inequalities” in the pay structure for international men’s and women’s teams. They got over $20 million. The women claimed they did equal work and therefore deserved equal pay. And amazingly, a judge agreed with that! I can’t stress how stupid this all is.
There is no such thing as equal work in the world of meritocratic sports. If this argument is actually valid, then what claim does LeBron James have to earn the maximum salary and his 12th man to earn the league minimum for sitting on the bench? They are both on the same team and playing basketball. Am I missing something here? I have a tweet out to Megan Rapino and LeBron James to see what they say. I am sure they’ll hit me up with a valid response…
Sports are not equal, nor can they be. We strive for greatness and winners. That inherently means there will be inequality. Taken a step further, as a fan or observer of any competition, we demand to see greatness too. Men and women’s soccer is simply not equal in terms of the ability of the participants or the product they put forth. This isn’t discrimination in any harmful sense; only a discerning of what’s mediocre and what is great. Who seriously wants to watch women’s soccer or women’s basketball when a much better product is available? Who would want to watch a game among subpar male athletes? Doesn’t the fact that television ratings go down when a star player’s absence is announced corroborate this?
As a result of their differences, the women are not able to command as much money from ads or ticket sales. There’s no sexism at play, just fan interest. It’s all real basic arithmetic, but when you spend so much time making your hair pink I suppose you can’t be expected to do math or use your brain.
And do I really need to point out that women no longer exist? Lia Thomas is swimming circles around the competition, and we are all supposed to cheer it on. What’s a man? What’s a woman? How come Megan Rapino can claim inequality – can she even define what a woman is and how they’re being left out?
#4: The left continues trying to expand what is considered ‘racist,’ but Americans aren’t buying it.
PF: This is another narrative which the left has overplayed, big time, and the backlash is just beginning. According to the left, essentially anything which has a disproportionate outcome to the detriment of one of their intersectional groups is due to some type of discrimination. When black and Hispanic folks are admitted to universities at a lesser percentage than Asian and white folks, it’s not because those Asian and white kids got better grades and are therefore more deserving, it’s because of racism.
But it’s not just our institutions that are racist, the left has expanded their accusations to include harmless and beloved aspects of society. Dr. Seuss wrote a book in 1954 that they don’t like? It’s racist. Aunt Jemimah pancake syrup? Racist. Statues of Thomas Jefferson? Racist. And their latest target is bicycle helmets, with Seattle having recently repealed a law requiring them. Leftists in that city believe that since more minorities than white folks had been receiving fines, that law is somehow racist.
All this pandering and division are having a predictable effect: the nation is becoming more divided, and many are tiring of the nonsense. Americans that are aware of what Critical Race Theory is, for instance, disapprove of it at a rate of almost 60%. Opinions on whether race relations are improving have been plummeting since 2013 after Barack Obama had been elected twice, but when the left began to increase their “everything is racist” narrative. And national support for the Black Lives Matter movement has dropped dramatically, down to 44% in December. Indeed, Americans have had enough of the silliness, and the more the left promotes it, the more Americans reject it.
#3: The participation of female swimmers and presence of a crowd at the NCAA women’s swim finals proves most people are either cowards, idiots, or both.
Parker: I have a young daughter, so I am especially bothered by this, but I don’t think not having a child should preclude people from being outraged by the inclusion of men in women’s sports. Unless those men are soccer players and they all replace the whining, “underpaid” brats on the USWNT that I wrote about in the 5th spot. I would absolutely love to see the transgenfer movement replace every international female athlete that feels oppressed by men.
My position against people like Gavin Hubbard, Will Thomas, Richard Levine, and anyone else that is so confused as to think they’re a man is rooted in two core beliefs. The issue of fairness is most often discussed. It’s not fair that Will can use his male body and male characteristics to swim faster. It’s not fair that women in the locker room have to watch him undress. These alone are maddening enough.
However, less discussed but perhaps even more important is the fact that we ignore truth. We The foundational issue with Will Thomas out-swimming or Richard Levine prancing around as the first four-star whatever means that we allow ourselves to be blind to truth. If one of the most elemental truths – that there are men and women and that they are distinct – is willingly and willfully ignored, on what other grounds can we defend anything? Postmodernism is evil because it makes all truths relative (and all morality relative), and we are witnessing in real time the destructive forces produces endless chaos.
Is Will Thomas any happier as a human being for swimming against lesser competition? Is he happier for living his truth? I doubt it. And when he spirals into a blackhole, there will be people that blame the response to his delusions, rather than the encouragement of them. THe same could be asked of society. Are we better off for letting Will and Richard play make believe? Not hardly.
As a father to a precious little girl, I am prepared to say that this issue is my hill.
#2: The effort to instill wokeness on every level in our military continues, and the consequences are dire.
PF: Depending on the institution being infiltrated, wokeness can stir a wide range of emotions. The attempts at indoctrinating school children with leftist values triggers protectiveness. Watching what’s happening to previously beloved sports leagues like the NFL and NBA infuriates us. But when it comes to what’s happening in our military and the outrageous efforts to steer it towards wokeness, the most powerful emotion of all is released: fear.
The most glaring example of wokeness infecting our military can be found at the highest level, with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley’s embrace of Critical Race Theory, but there are others. The Pentagon last year changed its policy to openly accept the absurd transgender ideology. We now have maternity-style uniforms in every branch of the service. And of course we have the open pursuit of “diversity”… and diversity for diversity’s sake is discrimination: plain and simple.
It seems so obvious that it shouldn’t need saying, but apparently it does. Our military’s focus should be on one thing: preparedness to defend our country. That’s it. If General Milley supports CRT, an ideology that encourages one to hate our country, he’s undermining that goal. Keeping pregnant women on active duty – instead of giving them paid leave to protect their unborn child – establishes twisted priorities. And we should not be supporting the delusions of those suffering with gender dysphoria or celebrating anyone’s sexual lifestyle.
Our military leaders should be laser focused on ensuring every unit of our military is as cohesive as possible. We shouldn’t discriminate against folks, but we should be striving for assimilation, and if diversity happens along the way, that’s fine. If we learned nothing else from the events of this past week, it’s this: The world is still a very dangerous place. And having the most powerful and effective military possible should be the sole objective of those who lead it.
#1: The political science might have determined Covid is no longer useful, but that doesn’t mean half of this country can easily escape their brainwash.
Parker: Nothing about Covid has ever been contained to the medical/scientific sphere. If anything, it’s always been responded to more politically than purely scientifically. And now, despite the science clearly saying Covid is mild and endemic and even politicians in LA, NYC, and DC admitting defeat, there are still tens of millions of scared, panicked, and indoctrinated voters who will keep on keeping on with their masks and quest to shame the unvaccinated.
Just last night, an older family member complained in a group text about the unvaccinated clogging up her local hospital and thus delaying her scheduled surgery. It doesn’t matter what CNN or Fauci say to her, she will spend the rest of her life with animus towards me and confusion regarding the nature of Covid. Fear, anxiety, misunderstanding, and many other negative emotions, like Covid itself, is now endemic.
With that in mind, it’s frustrating how people like her feel sure enough to throw out comments like that, but then I am asked to be a peacekeeper and not say anything, lest the relationship be damaged. Leftists and their ilk can always dish it, but immediately if they receive pushback they blame us for breaking the peace. This is the height of the culture war, where one side feels entitled to their truth and are so arrogantly blind to the fact that their truth is wrong. How does this end?
Featured photo is a screengrab from Fox News
Content syndicated from TheBlueStateConservative.com with permission.
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