From American Thinker.com (Sept. 13, 2021):
You never voted on it. You never gave society your consent. Yet somehow every decision you make has political ramifications, from the fast food you buy to the ice cream you eat, the sports you watch, the movies you enjoy, the words you use, and even the decision to fly your country's flag. Our institutions, similarly, are becoming increasingly partisan, typically with a left-wing bias, including our media, entertainment, universities, and even our scientific establishments. More alarmingly, polling data and social science studies reflect rapidly growing animosity toward those with differing political viewpoints.
While extreme partisanship is a problem on both ends of the political spectrum, a recent poll indicates that those on the left exhibit significantly less tolerance of alternative views than conservatives. A poll from the Survey Center on American Life found that Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to end a friendship over politics. Similar sentiments were expressed in a 2018 Axios survey, which found that 41% of Democrats would be at least somewhat disappointed if a family member married someone from a different political party, compared to 26% of Republicans. A microcosm of such attitudes was articulated in a Virginia Heffernan op-ed, in which Heffernan agonized over how to interpret an "act of aggressive niceness" in which her Trump-loving neighbors, without asking, shoveled her snow-covered driveway. Heffernan weaved an intricate web that stunningly compared her neighbor's act of kindness to those of polite Nazis, charitable members of Hezb'allah, and the January 6, 2021 rioters.
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The path to a depoliticized culture should be straightforward: simply stand down. Entertainment corporations could reduce the amount of politics in their products. Corporations could donate less to politically charged causes, or at the very least stop producing politicized ads. Individuals could post less about politics on social media, and social media giants in turn could consistently apply the same standards for both right- and left-wing accounts. Unfortunately, because the left has a stranglehold on most of our society's institutions, this scenario would require these entities to make major concessions while receiving little in return.
Consider the entertainment industry: in the 2018 election, 99.7 percent of all political donations from the Hollywood Reporter's top 100 list of entertainers and executives went to Democrats. Donations from tech companies are only slightly less skewed: 98% of donations went to Democrats in 2020. Wall Street's $2.9 billion in donations in 2020 favored Biden over Trump at over a 2.5:1 clip. In academia, Democrats outnumber Republicans by an estimated 10:1 margin among university faculty. The vast majority of power centers in the U.S. are overwhelmingly leftist. Conservatives must do more to match that clout and bring about a balance of power in our culture if we hope to incentivize the depoliticization of our society.
On an individual level, conservatives should be tolerant: don't end friendships over politics, and don't politicize every topic on God's green Earth within your social circles. Love your neighbor. However, on a societal level, conservatives must exercise collective economic power: companies that promote far-left policies must be boycotted until they change their policy. Similarly, we should "buycott," or provide additional economic support, to companies that promote conservative values. The power of protest is equally important: the political right can learn a thing from liberals, who have successfully pressured corporations to enact politically motivated policies. Just as left-wing activists influenced Major League Baseball to move the All-Star game, right-wing activists must pressure Hollywood to reduce its involvement with China on humanitarian grounds (treatment of Uyghurs, tyranny against Hong Kong, etc.), for example. Participation in local politics is also powerful, as demonstrated by recent grassroots movements against the teaching of Critical Race Theory. More conservatives are needed in academia, and support networks for conservative faculty may help these efforts. We can also support efforts to develop culturally relevant content: for example, the conservative news site The Daily Wire is entering the entertainment industry, while Cayo Films is planning a TV series dramatizing the Old Testament. Conservatives can also support right-wing journalism by subscribing to conservative news sites and writing op-eds. [read more]
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