Bill Whittle is a clever, erudite and indefatigable proponent ofliberty and limited government. His latest PJTV video, entitled “Support Your Local Tea Party: Vigilance & The Siren Song of the State,” is a must-see, especially if you’re on the fence about attending a Tax Day Tea Party near you.
Whittle’s video and the political movement it endorses are incredibly important. At the 2 minute 30 second mark, however, note his list of fields “the enemies of freedom have … taken over.”
“Things have gotten this bad because we’ve allowed them to get this bad. We’ve been busy minding our own business for forty years, while the enemies of freedom have slowly and surely taken over academia, newspapers, movie studios, comedy, music, and politics. Now a huge slice of our own people long to escape the responsibilities brought on by the freedoms our forefathers gave their lives for. We can’t let that happen.” [emphasis added]
As usual, Whittle’s analysis is spot on, but one of those fields doesn’t quite jive with the rest. Everything that Whittle ticks off in his list influences that final item. Politics is a lagging indicator to these cultural influence professions. You can’t change Washington DC and expect New York and Hollywood to follow along. In fact, New York and Hollywood will fight you every step of the way.
We can and must elect politicians who understand the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We can and must work to affect public policy through political activism. That, unfortunately, will not change “academia, newspapers, movie studios, comedy, [and] music.”
In fact, while we express ourselves at the ballot box every two years, the “enemies of freedom” express themselves every day in stories, movies, television shows, music, lesson plans, academic researc,h and reporting that reinforces the longing “to escape the responsibilities brought on by the freedoms our forefathers gave their lives for.”
We must have more than just ballots in our arsenal in this battle of ideas. Voting is one way to resist those who would enslave us to the state, but it cannot be the only way. We must support those who seek to foster a culture of liberty and personal responsibility through the cultural influence professions. We must build what S. T. Karnick has described as an Omniculture.
We currently live in a monoculture dominated by the Left because, as Whittle correctly notes, “We’ve been busy minding our own business for forty years.” We’ve been telling folks who express an interest in creating films, television, novels, poetry, or visual art, that they should “get a real job.” Michael Medved, the self-proclaimed “cultural crusader,” told an aspiring screenwriter that he’s “wasting his time.”
Given how effective Medved’s show has been at limiting the scope and growth of government, it seems the person really “wasting his time” is not the aspiring screenwriter.
We cannot win the battle of ideas if we refuse to enter the field of battle. If people refuse to be politically active, would we ever expect politics to change? How, then can we expect to build a culture of liberty and personal responsibility if we treat the cultural influence professions as unworthy of our time and effort?
Isn’t it just as important to support those who want to work in Hollywood, New York, and in academia as it is to support those who want to work in Washington DC or in the state capitols across the nation?
Thanks, Mo. I’m enjoying your comments.
I am happy to have discovered your site and look forward to exploring it in detail.
Extra points for featuring Barb Nicolosi. I have read many articles by her and interviews with her. I also had the pleasure of hearing her speak in person a few years ago. She is an important voice in the area of arts and culture.
Again, thank you and I wish you much success!
Thanks for the comment, Mo, and welcome to The American Culture. I hope that you’ll visit regularly and will look through the topic archives for more articles you might enjoy.
This site is dedicated to the proposition that the values people hold are most directly and powerfully influenced by cultural elements, broadly speaking, including the arts, media, journalism, the education system, academia, and other such areas of activity. And people’s assumptions and ideas have a huge influence on their actions, of course. Hence we can’t have a functioning, sustainable nation of liberty if we don’t have a culture of liberty.
There is, however, much good in the culture at this time, and we really ought to make the necessary effort to understand it. There are plenty of people already in the culture who function as our allies, perhaps often without realizing it. If you look at some of my TV essays–http://stkarnick.com/culture/category/television/–you’ll find that there is a good foundation already in place on which to build, and that critics and consumers can make a big difference by supporting good works and their creators.
(Here via Andrew Klavan’s site, and after having watched the Bill Whittle video you referenced.)
This is right on the mark! I did not grow up in a politically active family. Aside from voting, that’s as far as things went. There was never any discussion of issues or anything. So it’s only been within the past few years that I’ve become more aware of politics and culture in general. How I wish I had known all these things when I was younger. I would’ve pursued my artistic interests and perhaps have been an influence in the culture as you describe here.
The thing is, it’s even been more recently that I learned conservatives feel this way about arts/culture in general!
I cannot fathom this attitude. Few people care about politics. In comparison, everyone is aware of pop culture, whether we wish to be or not. We watch TV & movies. We listen to music. We read books/magazines. We go to school. As Bill said, these are the areas where Leftism has been victorious – so much so that most people don’t even realize it!
So how can conservatives think that these areas are not important, and that somehow voting every few years will offset it? This is the very environment where we live and breathe on a daily basis. People growing up today don’t know anything else. They think the liberal/Leftist view IS the correct view, because that’s all they’ve ever known. It never even occurs to them to think otherwise.
I started to listen to that Medved program and it made me want to weep. (Especially because the caller is from my city!) I had to shut it off. I could not bear to hear him tell that guy he was wasting his time. We need MORE artists speaking out for truth and freedom, not less!