Culture War in America
There are many conflict ridden questions any one asks himself when one looks at the American society. The American seems to be split into two in different aspects of the society touching on the Americans morals and values which has resulted into a cultural war. The Americans have taken sides on matters related to war in the Middle East, same sex marriages, abortion, stem cell biology and different aspects of technological advancement. The advancement of communication technology has had the greatest impact on the cultural polarization of the American society. The cultural wars have fascinated the media which has in turn made the problem even worse. These divisions leave every one wondering whether these divisions are really healthy in a diverse and democratic society or not (Hunter and Wolfe, p 34).
Everyone in America including a casual observer will agree that there is an increase in polarization in the American culture in the politics, society values, acceptable life styles and thoughts. There are many and endless conflicts in the American society with major differences of opinions which in many cases are resulting into violence or even death of one of the parties involved. Many people are seen to applaud the result of these conflicts depending on their opinion on the matter or which side they support. This brings out the question whether the American society has a culture war. In America today, we are experiencing a culture war in our day to day activities. For politics to social life, the American culture is at war.
Today, the American politics are not dictated by class or race as it used to be in the past years. The American politics are dominated by cultural conflicts between the political classes where cultural values and morals as well as lifestyles are the main areas of contention. Most newspapers and other news agencies and literatures use war language to sell more which is a clear indication of a culture war in the American society and the whole world. Scholars and academic writers have contributed to the view of the American society as a society with a culture war. James Davison Hunter in his book Culture Wars discuses very clearly the idea of a culture war. He analyzed the conflict ridden polarization of politics between the political elites who have nothing in common but constantly oppose each other. The book implies a decline in American politics as a result of this culture war which will be very difficult to revive (Hunter, p 23).
There is evidence of culture war developing in all aspects of Americans life. It is very disturbing to think of how differing groups of people with different ideas on the future of American society degrades the society morals. There is war of culture between the cultural elites and the less powerful in the society. The elite want to defend their positions and influence while the rest of the society are accusing them for underrating the American cultural and social values and believes morality will support them. The cultural war is however not reducing the polarity between the elites and the less powerful members of the society which has existed in the society for many years. The war cannot take the American society to the family centered society that existed in the mid 20th century.
There have been political conflicts in the past one decade over the control of the mass media, American politics and the public culture. The movies producers and other forms of entertainment industries have been the target of many elites. Other critics believe that those who have an upper hand in American affairs have sold the American culture. They put it indirectly that the social elites have introduced new cultures to the Americans and has turned the reality into fiction. They convert what is real into unreal by producing simple and exaggerated images where they can make money from the Americans or use numerous marketing tricks to trade practically anything to the American society (Sanes, Para 6).
The culture of unreality has been opposed for a very long time in the United States. However, this culture has become very persistent and in present all over the American society making it hard to fight since it is concealing the originality of the American society in all aspects. Fiction science has been introduced in the news in the American television to ensure that one does not change the channel he or she is watching. The computer generated images in the news have transformed the nonfiction news which the Americans used to watch into dramatic series.
The fiction science has influenced the politics of the United States in many ways. Fiction gives the false identity of a political candidate through the use of media commercials which are full of computer generated images which are intended to induce an emotional response in favor of the candidate. Many of these images have no relationship with the reality. They use brightly colored and luminescent lights they attract the attention of the public. The American zoos and museums have been transformed by these conversions of reality into fiction. Displays which meant to educate people on nature have been modeled into theme parks. The urban centers especially Las Vegas has been transformed into fiction town with giant images that do not relate with the reality (Sanes, Para 10).
Many Americans today are victims of culture wars. The values of the American have been eroded and many have lost the self confident Americans had in the past years. For example, in a public meeting, people who owned guns were asked to raise their hands and many people who owned guns chose not to raise their hands. Many Americans today will choose not to reveal their conviction about a fundamental right. The Americans no longer have their traditional courage of conviction. They are not proud of themselves or what they believe in as a result of culture war. Although it is a war without guns or blood shed, the liberty of Americans is being lost and they are less free as they were some decades ago (Williams, Para 2).
Cultural wars are impacting negatively on the social life of the Americans and the consequences may be far reaching. One of the major cultural battlegrounds in the American society today is the rights of same sex married people. There has been a conflict for many years between the conservative who are strongly opposed to special rights for gay men and the liberals who believe that same sex married couples are a disadvantaged minority in the community. The liberals claim that this minority group suffers from discrimination and biasness based on sexual orientation and therefore deserves special rights in the constitution. The liberals believe that the government has no compelling reason to interfere in individuals private lives. The state should therefore leave the individuals to choose what to do with their private lives without state restriction. The conservative opposed to special rights for homosexuals believe that the state governance should be based on moral and values derived from the Christian teachings in the bible.
The fight between the conservatives and the liberals over the matter raise a lot of questions. One wonders why the debate is such a loggerhead between the two groups. The two groups are willing to fight to death, which raises the question - why Is it because a necessary and primary change is taking place in an already civilized society The conflict can be termed as a cultural war which is evident today in all aspects of the Americans life as a result of a morally and culturally polarized society.
The culture war being experienced in the world today, the United States included has been mainly caused by advancement in technology. Technology has changed the way of thinking, most notably converting what is real into fiction. The advent of modern means of mass transport and communication has greatly transformed the world culture resulting into culture related conflicts. In the past centuries, it was impossible for a person to wakeup in one continent and be in another at sunset. Today, this is possible and at a cost that is affordable to the majority all over the world. Today, people can easily move within short notice from one area to another looking for better careers, better neighborhood or improved living condition as a result of transport technology. Again, the voice of an individual in any part of the world can now be heard by people from all over the world which was not possible in the past years. This makes individual opinion on different aspects of the society known all over the world. Every evening, the expressions of people from different parts of the world can be sampled in the news and viewed by people from any part of the world. People who live in remote rural areas and poor villages which are not exposed to the modern cultures can view the events in other parts of the world through mass communication technology (Bidstrup, P 1).
The impact of these technological advancements destabilized the organization of the society cultural values resulting into cultural wars. In the past, people were tied to their societies and committed to their cultures just because they could not move and were stuck there. Even if they had the means to move out of their communities, they had no economic reason to move which is there in the modern world. For this reason, people lived in their places of birth where they were loyal to there culture to avoid the ire of other community members. It was almost certain that the individual will live in that community forever.
In the modern world, this is not the case. People move from one place to another in search of better living conditions and jobs. It is reported that the frequency at which the Americans move increase as the years pass leading to an increased lack of commitment of the Americans to their cultural values. Americans today make no attempt of living to the expectations of the neighbors and the community since they can leave at any moment. Many Americans are even not interested in knowing who their neighbors are since they will leave the neighborhood sooner or later. The neighbor is also likely to leave any time also. For this reason, many disputes go unsettled and the Americans just move on without caring about others. The modern transports and communication have therefore magnified the extent of cultural war since the Americans are losing their traditional values as a result of increased mobility. The main reason why there is no commitment to the society among the Americans is simply because of the increased mobility of people as a result of development of mass transport.
Twentieth century has seen a lot of changes in the community where women are no longer seen as an inferior branch of humanity. The American society today recognizes the role of women in the society which was not the case in the past centuries. The women can now be heard because of the gender forum that emerged in the 20th century. The contribution of these forums is far reaching since women cannot only be heard but also their words make sense in the context of the modern world. Other minority groups in the United States can also complain and be given an ear by the authority. The cultural war between the conservatives who believe God created the universe to favor men and should not favor women and other disadvantaged groups and the humanist who believe God created us equal has been evident in the American society for many decades. Women as well as other minority groups have been fighting for their constitutional rights, which has been very successful although after a big struggle (Bidstrup, P 1).
Conclusion
Cultural war is very evident in the American society today. It has resulted into polarization of the society as a result of the Americans taking sides on different aspects of life touching on the Americans moral. As a result, some sociologists have argued that the Americans have no morals at all. The advent of mass transport and communication technology has resulted into lack of commitment to the society. Technology has changed the reality into unreality.
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