Young conservatives are so ridiculous.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
I think Kuo found out the hard way that “conservative” covers many divergent ideas, cultural conservatives, philosophical conservatives, economic conservatives, maybe more. And that excludes the fake conservatives, i.e. economic royalists, power-hungry douche bags willing to espouse anything that brings them personal power, religious peeping Toms, and assorted brutes who would be equally at home in the KKK or Stalin’s MVD, as long as they could torture someone for kicks.
I didn’t find this project ridiculous at all; I wish it had succeeded. If we concede that there will always be conservatives of one sort or another, I would much rather have them grappling with the world as it actually exists than the alternate universes of Beck, Palin, etc.
The biggest problem with the project, of course, is that nuance, multiple viewpoints, and actual reporting are in today’s world inherently anti-conservative. U.S. conservatism today is a top-down, authoritarian affair in which groupthink, in the guise of hierarchy and loyalty, is not only prized but required. In that sense an effort like Culture11 is a real threat to the people at the top of that pyramid.
well, the project is in some ways admirable, but the reason that young conservatives are ridiculous is that they can’t write a review about gangsta rap because of the cuss words. It’s no different from when Buckley condemned The Beatles.
I mean it’s pretty easy to be a relentless critic of our arts and culture. But you do have to participate in it.
“How do you talk about something like gangsta rap from a conservative perspective?” he said. “Are you going to critique it, or just disagree with it?”
I’m outside (in many ways) my area of expertise here, but it seems to me this quote is at the heart of the young conservatives’ quandry.
If young conservative intellectuals can’t find ways to engage intellectually with rap (yes, even gangsta rap), then they’re in for a long, difficult decade or more.
Popular music reflects all sorts of human yearnings, impulses, experiences and viewpoints. A lefty music critic like Dave Marsh can figure that out, and come to the realization that rock and soul music is about breaking free AND finding connection, rebellion AND return, isolation AND community. Why can’t conservatives?
Actually, gangsta rap probably should be approached from a conservative POV – it’s purely market-driven drivel. As a supposed reflection of the community from which it sprang it has about as much to do with the overall culture as the Huxtables – it sells so it is produced, but in many (most?) instances has nothing to do with the life experience of the artist that produced it.
Gangsta rap should be respected and understood.
I do understand it – that’s why I have little respect for it…
Common puts it in perspective…
I suppose it also bears mentioning:
Paris:Gangsta Rap::David Lee Roth:Death Metal
yeah, well, I admit that I lost interest in rap once the initial burst in the late eighties and early nineties. NWA, KRS-One, Paris, Public Enemy, that was authentic stuff that was important.
There’s a reason for that – it went from substantive commentary to profitible entertainment.
There are various strains of conservatism, but none of its adherents have the slightest idea that they are working for The Man. It is no coincidence that the aims of conservatism align perfectly with the aims of the economic elites.
There are various strains of conservatism, but none of its adherents have the slightest idea that they are working for The Man.
Maybe the Glibertarians at places like CATO don’t, but people like KKKarl Rove sure do.
Remember the World Net Daily/Freerepublic-driven flap about the Christmas ornament? This is entire post from the odd, Conservative blog called wizbang:
Chairman Mao and other weirdos adorn the White House Christmas tree.
The ornament features an Andy Warhol print of Mao. Andy Warhol is an American artist, born of poor immigrant parents, who created an instantly identifiable brand known throughout the world, changed the history of art, and created an enduring business.
Furthermore, Warhol took a well-known symbol of Communism and turned it on it’s head — Warhol made money off it — you’d think that alone would make them happy — shouldn’t all that be celebrated?