Culture wars

Culture wars

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Written by Stew Goodwin
September 03, 2010

The Vietnam War protest that i remember most distinctly occurred over
40 years ago. In 1969 a large group protesting our participation in
the Vietnam War marched down New York City's Broadway into the
financial district where I was employed. Many of the marchers were
what was then called "hippies." Lining the route as the march
approached Wall Street were several buildings under construction.
(The Merrill Lynch building was one of them.) The workers on these
projects were on their lunch, as were many of the spectators, including myself.

As the march crossed Fulton Street and headed south into the
financial hub the construction workers came down out of their girder
skeletons and began assaulting the marchers with an assortment of
tools they were carrying. Blood flowed. Then the workers took out
after the three-piece-suited spectators whom they disliked only
slightly less than the hippies.

Being a three-piece-suited spectator, and thus fair game, I was
chased into a building by a hard-hatted construction worker wielding
a large wrench. I escaped unharmed, but a number of investment
business eployees did not. This incident sharply etched for me the
nature of the culture wars that were in progress. These wars are
still being waged, often by the original participants, or their
immediate descendants.

By the late 1960s the anti-war movement had embraced parts of the
civil, women's, and gay rights movements, as well as hordes of
students, many of whom were facing the draft. At the same time the
opposition was coalescing. It included the socially conservative who
were repelled by drugs and sexual license or were revulsed by
homosexuality and abortion. In many cases those antipathies were
supplemented by a hatred of Communism and a desire to confront it militarily.

The culture wars of that period eventually ran their course. One
result was that civil rights, women's rights and gay rights were
inserted into public discourse and some alleviating legislation was
passed. Another result was the eruption of the New Right, which
steadily increased its political power. Both sides from these wars
are still arrayed opposite each other with a cultural canyon between them.

The issues lying along the dividing line today carry echoes of the
past with them. Our citizens batter each other over reproductive
rights, the right to bear arms, immigration, military adventures,
taxation policy, debts, deficits, gay marriage, the reach of
government, and other topics that have been dividing them for
decades. In addition, some of our citizens seem to need a perceived
threat to "The American Way Of Life' to energize their patriotism.
For those citizens Islam has replaced Communism as the catalyst for
their ardor.

It is possible that in time demographics may blur the sharpness of
these cultural divisions. For the foreseeable future, however, the
edges will remain honed. That means any search for a great synthesis,
be it political, economic, or social, on issues with cultural borders
is likely to be futile. What can be achieved, though, is the building
of occasional bridges to span the floodwaters of a crisis or two.
These bridge-building projects will be inspired by necessity, not inclination.

During a transitional period such as the one we are in there will be
a series of patches awaiting the emergence of our country's new
identity. These patches will adhere to every segment of our polity.
Hopefully they will be superseded by an improved social contract.
Meanwhile, most of us will rage at whatever happens to be the
government of the moment. Most of us will only proceed with
reluctance toward any adjustments that may be required to bring our
appetites in line with our means. In short, the culture wars will
persist for at least another decade or two. Our main task as citizens
will be to ensure that their periodic explosions do not cause any
irreparable damage.

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