Isaac Butler's new book "The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America’s Culture Wars" revisits the political fight over the National Endowment for the Arts
Great article, valid points made, lived experience for some of us. I’ll go further, because there’s another facet we’re facing here: generational scapegoating. Now we boomers are being blamed for the economic distress of younger adults. It’s an easy out, but frankly, it’s just plain lazy. Pro Tip: How about continuing the fight along with boomers to break through corporate greed, institutional stonewalling, racial and gender oppression; get actively involved at the grassroots level, and maybe eventually start winning back the civil rights we fought for and won, the ones you were born with and let slip away and still don’t feel appropriately pissed off about losing. Nah — easier to blame the boomers. Boomers on the left will continue fighting as we’ve always done. Admittedly, we’re not as ideologically pure as you might like, but if you hold your nose and join in, perhaps you might learn something about going up against entrenched power structures, skills you’ll need after we’re gone. If I sound annoyed — yeah, I am. It seems that we boomers on the left were born pissed off at the way things are.
This article makes no mention of Pat Buchanan (although I'm sure the book does), who, in a speech to the '92 Republican National Convention, said this: "My friends, this election is about more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe, and what we stand for as Americans. There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as was the Cold War itself, for this war is for the soul of America."
In the same speech, Buchanan praises Reagan and the GOP for defeating communism in Europe and for the collapse of the Soviet Union. How things have changed. Today's GOP sucks up to tyrants both at home and abroad, and the culture we now have is MMA fights on the White House lawn.
Yes, Buchanan features prominently as well but he was more of a commentator. But Helms and Wildmon were the ones who organized and rallied their base with mass mailings etc (often deceptive or sensationalized).
The US has several different cultures, as documented in the "Nations of North America" by Colin Woodard and its sequels. I've read both of the sequels recently. There isn't just one cultural identity.
I could probably be classified as a Midlander in culture, mostly. I currently live in NoVa which is technically Tidewater but it seems that, due to all the government workers who moved there, its culture is probably more Midlander. (I was born in the Midlands and mostly lived in various Midland areas except for a 3 year sojourn in Colorado during my early elementary school years.
Politically, I'm a moderate liberal who grew up in a Democratic household who thought the Republicans were going too far right, even in the Reagan days. But now the Republicans are downright fascists and would probably be at home supporting Adolf Hitler. I'm also a baseball and hockey fan and have started wondering if I should stop following those two sports since too many of the players support Dear Leader. I recall Marge Schott, the former owner of the Cincinnati Reds who was forces to sell her team back in the 1990's for expressing pro-Nazi sentiment. Today, she would be voted into higher office and would be part of the current regime.
I saw Karen Finley perform live. I saw a photo exhibition of Mapplethorpe's work. I probably wouldn't have if it weren't for the far-right attacks on the NEA.
San Francisco used to have a thriving alternative arts community. The AI tech bro billionaires took over the city and fucked it up, perhaps irretrievably. All the rents are jacked up beyond the starving artist range. The city is polluted with surveillance cameras and AI billboards.
Hollywood (with its rich war chest) fought efforts by other countries to support their domestic film industries by taxing tickets and foreign films. And they enlisted the help of the local distributors and theater owners that imported the US films for showing. Often these people were wealthy and had clout with the governments. Just saying, that's how it went down.
Beginning in 1990, I was the executive director of an arts council in a medium sized Southern city. We worked against the culture wars to grow diverse audiences and inclusive events and created a 3 county streets plan. Our local focus groups told us in diverse voices how prized the wide body of the arts are to community development and individual personal growth. I look forward to revisiting the fervor with which I fought during this ardent time... And with which I continue to fight even now.
Interesting topic. I remember some of the works and artists but really did not know about the religious right influence. I may not support certain works but to each his own. Thank you for your artucle.
Fortunately a majority of the culture war conservative warriors have been MAGA boomers. Younger generations not so much. They are less conservative, less white, and less Christian.
Are you sure? I’m asking because I see reports about Turning Point. Helms, Buchanan, Reagan, Phyllis Schlafley, Anita Bryant and who else, would be awfully proud.
Great article, valid points made, lived experience for some of us. I’ll go further, because there’s another facet we’re facing here: generational scapegoating. Now we boomers are being blamed for the economic distress of younger adults. It’s an easy out, but frankly, it’s just plain lazy. Pro Tip: How about continuing the fight along with boomers to break through corporate greed, institutional stonewalling, racial and gender oppression; get actively involved at the grassroots level, and maybe eventually start winning back the civil rights we fought for and won, the ones you were born with and let slip away and still don’t feel appropriately pissed off about losing. Nah — easier to blame the boomers. Boomers on the left will continue fighting as we’ve always done. Admittedly, we’re not as ideologically pure as you might like, but if you hold your nose and join in, perhaps you might learn something about going up against entrenched power structures, skills you’ll need after we’re gone. If I sound annoyed — yeah, I am. It seems that we boomers on the left were born pissed off at the way things are.
I have to adapt a phrase by Faulkner:
The 60s aren't over-- they're not even past!
Spoken as someone who came of age in the late 60s and early 70s.
A related phrase is, "If you remember the 60s, you really weren't there".
This article makes no mention of Pat Buchanan (although I'm sure the book does), who, in a speech to the '92 Republican National Convention, said this: "My friends, this election is about more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe, and what we stand for as Americans. There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as was the Cold War itself, for this war is for the soul of America."
In the same speech, Buchanan praises Reagan and the GOP for defeating communism in Europe and for the collapse of the Soviet Union. How things have changed. Today's GOP sucks up to tyrants both at home and abroad, and the culture we now have is MMA fights on the White House lawn.
Yes, Buchanan features prominently as well but he was more of a commentator. But Helms and Wildmon were the ones who organized and rallied their base with mass mailings etc (often deceptive or sensationalized).
The US has several different cultures, as documented in the "Nations of North America" by Colin Woodard and its sequels. I've read both of the sequels recently. There isn't just one cultural identity.
I could probably be classified as a Midlander in culture, mostly. I currently live in NoVa which is technically Tidewater but it seems that, due to all the government workers who moved there, its culture is probably more Midlander. (I was born in the Midlands and mostly lived in various Midland areas except for a 3 year sojourn in Colorado during my early elementary school years.
Politically, I'm a moderate liberal who grew up in a Democratic household who thought the Republicans were going too far right, even in the Reagan days. But now the Republicans are downright fascists and would probably be at home supporting Adolf Hitler. I'm also a baseball and hockey fan and have started wondering if I should stop following those two sports since too many of the players support Dear Leader. I recall Marge Schott, the former owner of the Cincinnati Reds who was forces to sell her team back in the 1990's for expressing pro-Nazi sentiment. Today, she would be voted into higher office and would be part of the current regime.
I saw Karen Finley perform live. I saw a photo exhibition of Mapplethorpe's work. I probably wouldn't have if it weren't for the far-right attacks on the NEA.
San Francisco used to have a thriving alternative arts community. The AI tech bro billionaires took over the city and fucked it up, perhaps irretrievably. All the rents are jacked up beyond the starving artist range. The city is polluted with surveillance cameras and AI billboards.
Very cool you saw Finley perform. Must have been memorable!
Hollywood (with its rich war chest) fought efforts by other countries to support their domestic film industries by taxing tickets and foreign films. And they enlisted the help of the local distributors and theater owners that imported the US films for showing. Often these people were wealthy and had clout with the governments. Just saying, that's how it went down.
Beginning in 1990, I was the executive director of an arts council in a medium sized Southern city. We worked against the culture wars to grow diverse audiences and inclusive events and created a 3 county streets plan. Our local focus groups told us in diverse voices how prized the wide body of the arts are to community development and individual personal growth. I look forward to revisiting the fervor with which I fought during this ardent time... And with which I continue to fight even now.
Interesting topic. I remember some of the works and artists but really did not know about the religious right influence. I may not support certain works but to each his own. Thank you for your artucle.
Trump and his MAGAt Republicans have made it that way. They want others to blame.
Fortunately a majority of the culture war conservative warriors have been MAGA boomers. Younger generations not so much. They are less conservative, less white, and less Christian.
So as boomers age out sanity will likely prevail.
Are you sure? I’m asking because I see reports about Turning Point. Helms, Buchanan, Reagan, Phyllis Schlafley, Anita Bryant and who else, would be awfully proud.