- It isn’t just late-night TV. Cultural arenas and institutions that were always liberal are being prodded or dragged further to the left. Awards shows are being pushed to shed their genteel limousine liberalism and embrace the race-gender-sexual identity agenda in full. Colleges and universities are increasingly acting as indoctrinators for that same agenda, shifting their already-lefty consensus under activist pressure.
Meanwhile, institutions that were seen as outside or sideways to political debate have been enlisted in the culture war. The tabloid industry gave us the apotheosis of Caitlyn Jenner, and ESPN gave her its Arthur Ashe Award. The N.B.A., N.C.A.A. and the A.C.C. — nobody’s idea of progressive forces, usually — are acting as enforcers on behalf of gay and transgender rights. Jock culture remains relatively reactionary, but even the N.F.L. is having its Black Lives Matters moment, thanks to Colin Kaepernick.
For the left, these are clear signs of cultural gains, cultural victory. But the scale and swiftness of those victories have created two distinctive political problems for the Democratic Party.
Seriously? I don't think it's possible to live anywhere in America and not be excruciatingly familiar with right-wing ideas.Among millennials, especially, there’s a growing constituency for whom right-wing ideas are so alien or triggering, left-wing orthodoxy so pervasive and unquestioned, that supporting a candidate like Hillary Clinton looks like a needless form of compromise.
I took that to mean right-wing ideas endorsed and embodied by people in proximity to them. Not just a familiarity with. Edited to add the rest, so pardon me for pinging you again bfv. The point that I don't hear discussed is this: Hillary Clinton's being saved by the wretchedness of Trump (though it remains to be seen if it will be sufficient in the end). If there was a unoffensive Republican nominee, like Kasich or something, it looks like they'd have this election in the bag. As for why Kasich never secured the nomination in the first place, Trump had a plurality with 25% lead in the primaries, but that's because the field of adversaries was insanely watered down. I don't think Trump would have made it as far if the more reasonable/less vitriolic portion of the GOP electorate had one or two establishment candidates to rally around, instead of 15. I disagree with the article. I don't think the adverse reaction towards Jimmy Fallon for treating Trump as a chum is unfounded. I do think the a social consciousness should impinge on what others believe should be off-limits -- "I Just Wish NFL Players Could Find A Way To Protest Without Starting A National Dialogue" (The Onion) -- vis a vis MLK and remonstration of the white moderate. But still. Liberalism isn't in a strong place. And a lot of liberals are in an ineffectual bubble, myself sometimes included. I talk and think about these things a lot, but I don't know if I've ever changed anyone's mind.By nominating a Trump rather than a Nixon or a Reagan, the Republicans may have saved liberalism from repeating that trajectory. But it remains an advantage for the G.O.P., and a liability for the Democratic Party, that the new cultural orthodoxy is sufficiently stifling to leave many Americans looking to the voting booth as a way to register dissent.
We almost had a socialist as a major party candidate. For the first time in my lifetime the actual left has a place in mainstream politics. The culture wars are all over but the shouting. I have never been accused of being an optimist, but I think things are looking up, and I say that living in the south and in a town where there are still occasionally Klan rallies.
That's because it's nonsensical bullshit, just like every second word out of Ross Douthat's mouth. The Daily Show became a leftist politicized rant-fest because the Right had completely colonized the media. Apparently nobody remembers when Rush Limbaugh had a syndicated show on television, or back when Fox News was just another news network, but it happened during my adulthood. That the only comics on television are leftist comics has more to do with the fact that the Right does not now and never has had a sense of humor than some sort of "cultural orthodoxy" made up by Ross Douchehat to make some ridiculous point that has no basis in reality. I mean, get a grip, yo. There were like a dozen inoffensive GOP nominees. The rabble blew them all out of the water, sometimes two or three at a time. The fact that so many of them threw their hat in the ring doesn't somehow confoozle people into voting against their desires. I'm with bfv on this one - a damn socialist came within shouting distance of being a major party candidate for president. Your political memory stretches all the way back to maybe GWB. I watched hostages return from Iran as Reagan was sworn in. Your perspective is trumped. (oh yes I did)The point that I don't hear discussed is this: