The culture war is real and it s getting worse – spiked
Unlike today, everyone involved in the wars of religion knew what was at stake. The situation is very different in 2021, where often the very existence of a conflict over cultural values is denied. Media commentators insist there is no such thing as a free-speech crisis and that cancel culture is a myth. The culture war is the invention of groups of bitter, out-of-touch white reactionaries who fear the loss of their privilege, they claim.
This is culture war denialism. The principal premise of this denialism is that campaigns against heteronormativity, whiteness, trans-exclusionary radical feminists , cultural appropriation and so on are just struggles for social justice. Even though these campaigns target sometimes violently many of society s long-established cultural norms, apparently they do not add up to a culture war. Instead, this crusade against Western culture is dressed up in words like inclusion and diversity . It is those on the other side those who want to preserve the values of their community and who resist woke campaigners attempts to take control of language who are accused of waging a culture war.
Culture war denialism is an attempt to normalise and legitimise the crusade against the historical gains of the Enlightenment and Western culture. At the same time, the culture war denialists try to frame the desire to defend the norms and customs of the enlightened, modern democratic society as a dangerous threat to the wellbeing and identity of certain individuals and groups.
There’s a culture war alright. Yer darn tootin’.