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Are you concerned about the increasing cultural divisions in the U.S.? Seems like the NYT giving up the pretense of being a general purpose news organization is

Are you concerned about the increasing cultural divisions in the U.S.? Seems like the NYT giving up the pretense of being a general purpose news organization is a loss for those hoping for cultural reconciliation at some point.

dodobirdlord 6y ago
I think it's fairly clear that there will not be a cultural reconciliation, at least not in the sense of an acceptance of mutual differences. What even is the "cultural right" anymore? It has devolved into a movement defined by opposition to the left's social initiatives.
- scruple 6y ago
  You can swap "left" and "right" in your comment and it would lose no substance and it's meaning would not change.
  - adt2bt 6y ago
    I don’t agree. The defining difference between the left and right to me is the propensity to advocate for change. The cultural left is a hodgepodge if smaller issues under one larger umbrella. You’ve got people who care about racism, climate change, money in politics, access to abortion, etc. All of whom are trying to change society in some way to deal with big problems we have. As a result, it’s incredibly messy. The groups don’t always overlap well nor fall in line. On the other hand, the cultural right is more or less defined by an unwillingness to change society. They like it as it is, and are generally afraid of change. They’re scared even more by the sight of the lefts constant infighting and imagine that it would be chaos if they got their way. Plus abortion and gun control alone keep many of them in check. They’re generally not defined by a vision for a better America, just a whiter one that doesn’t really change from what we’ve got.
    - humanrebar 6y ago
      The right is the ones advocating for changes with respect to immigration, access to abortion, affirmative action, the tax code, the power of public service unions, and a whole host of other issues. The left is defending the status quo more than many seem to appreciate. More, the left seems to be more picky about morality issues, even, though the set of morals aren't sexual or religious (for instance), they are environmental and multicultural (for instance).
      - dodobirdlord 6y ago
        The GP is a response to a comment about social/cultural issues. For the two cultural issues you mention, immigration and access to abortion, the stance of the right wing is specifically to roll back what the left wing regards as progress. The right wing's stance on other social/cultural issues tends to follow this trend, such as with LGBT and healthcare topics. The stance holds that recently decided social questions were decided wrongly and should be reversed, and that recent legislation is defective and should be repealed. The modern cultural right can't even manage to be tech-optimistic, because technology companies are regarded as being on the wrong side of the culture war and must therefore be opposed and degraded.
  - jeremyjh 6y ago
    What are the right's social initiatives? Can you name three?
    - humanrebar 6y ago
      Restricting access to abortion, promotion of alternatives to public schooling, and elaborating on religious freedoms especially where they run against social initiatives of the left.
    - scruple 6y ago
      What you're doing here is meme-tier, bottom text: THE RIGHT HAS NO CULTURE. I'm a lefist and I find it insulting.
      - jeremyjh 6y ago
        I'm simply refuting GP. The left's social agenda isn't defined by opposition to the right - apart from abortion. For the most part, the right wants things to stay the way they are.
DagAgren 6y ago
Do you really want to "culturally reconcile" with people who want to send the army to quell peaceful protests? That is not a view that you can build a democracy on. To have democracy, you have to exclude certain ideologies and ideas. This has always been the case and will always remain the case. Some ideologies are antithetical to democracy, and that article espoused one of them.

dodobirdlord 6y ago

I think it's fairly clear that there will not be a cultural reconciliation, at least not in the sense of an acceptance of mutual differences. What even is the "cultural right" anymore? It has devolved into a movement defined by opposition to the left's social initiatives.

scruple 6y ago
You can swap "left" and "right" in your comment and it would lose no substance and it's meaning would not change.
- adt2bt 6y ago
  I don’t agree. The defining difference between the left and right to me is the propensity to advocate for change. The cultural left is a hodgepodge if smaller issues under one larger umbrella. You’ve got people who care about racism, climate change, money in politics, access to abortion, etc. All of whom are trying to change society in some way to deal with big problems we have. As a result, it’s incredibly messy. The groups don’t always overlap well nor fall in line. On the other hand, the cultural right is more or less defined by an unwillingness to change society. They like it as it is, and are generally afraid of change. They’re scared even more by the sight of the lefts constant infighting and imagine that it would be chaos if they got their way. Plus abortion and gun control alone keep many of them in check. They’re generally not defined by a vision for a better America, just a whiter one that doesn’t really change from what we’ve got.
  - humanrebar 6y ago
    The right is the ones advocating for changes with respect to immigration, access to abortion, affirmative action, the tax code, the power of public service unions, and a whole host of other issues. The left is defending the status quo more than many seem to appreciate. More, the left seems to be more picky about morality issues, even, though the set of morals aren't sexual or religious (for instance), they are environmental and multicultural (for instance).
    - dodobirdlord 6y ago
      The GP is a response to a comment about social/cultural issues. For the two cultural issues you mention, immigration and access to abortion, the stance of the right wing is specifically to roll back what the left wing regards as progress. The right wing's stance on other social/cultural issues tends to follow this trend, such as with LGBT and healthcare topics. The stance holds that recently decided social questions were decided wrongly and should be reversed, and that recent legislation is defective and should be repealed. The modern cultural right can't even manage to be tech-optimistic, because technology companies are regarded as being on the wrong side of the culture war and must therefore be opposed and degraded.
- jeremyjh 6y ago
  What are the right's social initiatives? Can you name three?
  - humanrebar 6y ago
    Restricting access to abortion, promotion of alternatives to public schooling, and elaborating on religious freedoms especially where they run against social initiatives of the left.
  - scruple 6y ago
    What you're doing here is meme-tier, bottom text: THE RIGHT HAS NO CULTURE. I'm a lefist and I find it insulting.
    - jeremyjh 6y ago
      I'm simply refuting GP. The left's social agenda isn't defined by opposition to the right - apart from abortion. For the most part, the right wants things to stay the way they are.

DagAgren 6y ago

Do you really want to "culturally reconcile" with people who want to send the army to quell peaceful protests? That is not a view that you can build a democracy on. To have democracy, you have to exclude certain ideologies and ideas. This has always been the case and will always remain the case. Some ideologies are antithetical to democracy, and that article espoused one of them.