Only honesty can end the Culture War

Moving past us versus them

“Culture War Refugee”

Here’s the challenge facing the Rural American Gazette.

When I discuss the concept in the abstract, most people get it. They are tired of the Culture War. They know the partisan news media divide us and the political system is unresponsive to the needs of voters.

But when discussed in the concrete, these same people bristle. There are divisive news organizations, they will argue, but they’re not the ones I watch or read. Most pundits are charlatans, but not mine. The other political party is hateful, but not the one I support.

Having worked for years as a journalist with a Ph.D. in the field while never considering myself either a Republican or Democrat, this fealty is hard for me to understand.

Why would anyone show such allegiance to giant corporate media organizations? What is the allure of self-righteous, multi-million dollar pundits? Shouldn’t voters be showing anger toward political parties that rarely deliver on promises, instead of passionately defending them?

The problem appears to be that these entities have co-opted our beliefs. In the Culture War, it is us versus them. For those on the right to denounce Fox News would feel like admitting the left was right about their beliefs. For those on the left to admit Rachel Maddow is a conflict entrepreneur who throws red meat to her liberal audience would feel like admitting the right is correct about liberalism.

The only way to escape the powerful grip of the Culture War is to reclaim our political beliefs. Our liberal views do not become wrong just because we admit MSNBC makes tons of money selling political division. Conservatism is not wrong because we acknowledge Sean Hannity enriches himself by selling conflict or because Donald Trump is a demagogue.

MSNBC and the Democratic Party are not liberalism. Fox News and the Republican Party are not conservatism. They are profiting off our core beliefs not supporting them.