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<A HREF="aol://5863:126/alt.politics.media:96081">News Media and "Culture War"
</A>
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Subject: News Media and "Culture War"
From: Norman Solomon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, Feb 25, 1999 4:40 PM
Message-id: <APC&1'0'69e030e8'[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
MORE "CULTURE WAR" BOMBAST ON THE WAY
By Norman Solomon
You may be tired of hearing about a "culture war," but such talk is
just getting started. On the media battlefield, righteous warriors are
lining up to fight the infidels in the first big political conflict of
the 21st century.
With the 2000 presidential campaign beckoning, some conservative
crusaders see a new chance to sweep aside ambiguities and clearly divide
friend from foe. "Culture war" could be an effective slogan, especially
if the goal is to escalate arguments that can gain media attention while
polarizing American society.
News outlets -- especially TV networks -- often welcome a simplistic
fight. The real world is filled with contradictions and dilemmas that
don't fit very well between commercials. Why explore the complexities of
issues by including dozens of perspectives when it's easy to feature a
dramatic clash between "both sides"?
Among the rhetorical gunslingers with fondness for cultural
shootouts, none is quicker on the propaganda draw than Patrick Buchanan.
Despite all his denunciations of news media, Buchanan has found them to
be quite hospitable to his bombast. That's why he's in a strong position
to squirt lighter-fluid on smoldering social tensions.
During work stints in the White House, serving the Nixon and Reagan
administrations, Buchanan sharpened his media-manipulation skills. He
went on to become the first political pundit to appear on national
television every day of the week.
Although he has never held elective office, Buchanan ran for the GOP
presidential nomination in 1992 and again in 1996. Now he has begun yet
another leave of absence from his job as co-host of CNN's "Crossfire" so
he can jump into his third presidential campaign.
It has become traditional for Buchanan's sparring partner to give
him a cordial send-off when he leaves "Crossfire" to seek the presidency.
In mid-February 1995, his "from the left" co-host at the time, Michael
Kinsley, helped Buchanan to hold up a sign that gave his campaign's 800
number.
The on-camera moment was symbolic: While Buchanan and his allies are
fierce partisans for right-wing causes, their network-designated
"opponents" are wishy-washy liberals who rarely put up a fight for
progressive positions.
A few weeks ago, Buchanan's syndicated column proclaimed that "in
the culture, the left and its Woodstock values have triumphed." According
to Buchanan, whose heroes include such dictators as Francisco Franco of
Spain and Augusto Pinochet of Chile, "an anti-Western counterculture has
completed its long march through America's institutions, capturing the
arts, entertainment, the public schools and colleges, the media and even
many churches."
Fine-tuning his battle cries for the 2000 campaign, Buchanan is now
saying that American culture is a disaster -- and political action is the
only way that conservatives can hope to rescue the country. "Politics is
the last contested battlefield of our culture war," he declares, "for
only through politics can the new cult, a militant and intolerant
secularist faith that will abide no other, impose its values on us."
Read back over that last sentence, substituting the word "religious"
for "secularist," and Buchanan is aptly describing his own approach.
Actually, war is a misleading metaphor for cultural conflicts in the
United States. Often, demagogues are trying to make hay out of diversity
that we should affirm rather than deplore. Even when people are at odds
over social policies, there are more than two or three alternatives
available. Genuine dialogue usually helps, though it frequently seems to
be in short supply.
But conservatives aren't the only ones who find "culture war"
imagery useful. Liberals often enjoy doing battle with theocratic
conservatives like Buchanan and Gary Bauer, the former head of the Family
Research Council who is running for next year's Republican presidential
nomination. While the Buchanans and Bauers wage holy war, cheered on by
true believers, Democratic strategists seem to be pleased -- mindful that
such right-wing blather repels most Americans.
Odious bigotry is involved in the "culture war" rhetoric of Pat
Buchanan and his ilk, who disparage many people -- including millions of
immigrants, blacks, Latinos, independent women, gays and lesbians -- for
failing to measure up to some arbitrary yardstick of Godliness.
But no one should be smug about the status quo. After all, we live
in a culture dominated by huge media institutions that give top priority
to profits while undermining more precious values. If we can overcome
efforts to find scapegoats, maybe we can proceed to challenge the
centralized economic forces that are doing great damage to this society's
cultural environment.
_____________________________________________
Norman Solomon's new book "The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media" will be
published in early spring by Common Courage Press.
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Kris
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