The Future of the Movement Lies in Culture
Do you ever feel as though we have completely lost our country to the far left? That our situation is bleak and we rarely win anymore?
Does it feel as if the few electoral and policy victories we have managed to achieve in recent years have done very little to chip away at the macro societal problems we face?
It sometimes makes me wonder if we are going about this war for the heart, mind, and soul of America all wrong. There is only so much that can be accomplished through winning elections in such a divided country - we have to start connecting with people on a deeper level if we are to thrive long term. This will not happen through sporadic political advertising campaigns or social media posts, it will only happen by systematically changing the cultural narrative.
There are unquestionably many voices driving our culture hard and fast to the left. Meanwhile, there are few loud, effective, and coherent voices punching back. There is, however, an informal group of free-thinkers making an impact -- they are known as the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW).
If you have not heard of them, you have certainly seen the works of its membership which includes conservative pundits such as Ben Shapiro and Douglas Murray, social psychologists along the likes of Jonathan Haidt and Jordan Peterson, and, most notably, comedian and podcaster, Joe Rogan.
The New York Times did an expose on the group, stating: "Here are some things that you will hear when you sit down to dinner with the vanguard of the Intellectual Dark Web: There are fundamental biological differences between men and women. Free speech is under siege. Identity politics is a toxic ideology that is tearing American society apart. And we’re in a dangerous place if these ideas are considered dark.”
Aside from Murray and Shapiro, most members of the "group" wouldn't consider themselves political and almost none consider themselves conservatives. However, they are subtly shaping the way much of our nation under forty years of age thinks about cultural issues and how elections and public policy impact them personally.
Whether it is Haidt showing us the dangers of coddling our children with safetyism, Peterson illustrating the importance of personal responsibility, or even Rogan pushing back against the notion of "toxic masculinity" -- these voices are making a tangible difference in the culture wars of our time.
Their efforts have been rewarded financially. Peterson's '12 Rules for Life' and Haidt's 'Coddling of the American Mind' are both New York Times Best Sellers and Rogan recently signed a deal with Spotify worth over $100 million. The popularity of this group underscores how desperately people in our country are looking for direction and crave an alternative to the leftist narrative dominating our culture and way of life.
The runaway success of Matthew McConaughey's 'Greenlights' is another indication that many Americans seek a return to sanity. In a world that encourages a victimhood mentality, McConaughey preaches the opposite: “I created a lot of the greenlights by taking responsibility today, which created freedom for me tomorrow. I made decisions today, and sometimes even sacrifices, that teed me up for more pleasure or more of what I wanted tomorrow.”
McConaughey acknowledges the world as the messy place that it is, but celebrates life as a journey full of opportunities to learn and grow as opposed to decrying perceived inequities holding him back. He laments that cancel culture has hindered this kind of growth in many by discouraging difficult conversations that might otherwise motivate ambitious young people: “You’ve got to have confrontation to have unity... that’s when the democracy works really well.”
Perhaps the king of confrontation right now is the head of BarStool Sports, Dave Portnoy. He has been a vocal opponent of government-mandated COVID-19 closures while putting his money where his mouth is to raise over $36 million for impacted businesses. He has stood up to the establishment on Wall Street when they cheated during the #WallStreetBets scandal, taking the side of the day trading Redditors over the hedge fund elites.
Most importantly, he has been unapologetic in his humor and frame of mind. When the outrage mob accused him of racism over a Colin Kaepernick joke he shot back: “I’m not going to apologize. I’m not going to bend the knee. The thing that people are coming at me for now with Kaepernick is literally like a joke from The Office.”
And while it may seem insignificant now, the way we win is by doing exactly what Portnoy did. The mob only has power if we allow them to. By simply standing strong and saying "NO," we take that power back. By saying "NO," we win. But we must stand strong and have the courage to do so.
While progressives continue to villainize the classically liberal ideas our nation was founded upon and do long-lasting harm, these IDW voices have armed a new generation with talking points to defend the values critical to the future of our nation. Electoral victories come and go but cultural change is often generational. It is now incumbent upon us to do our part to shift the narrative.
