Liberals Shouldn't Rush to Win the Rural/Urban Culture War

In the1980s, during the reign of Ronald Reagan, far-right conservatives and conservative Evangelical Christianity merged into a pungent stew of Religio-Politicism. This alliance was based on the imaginings of a confabulated ‘Moral Majority’, which began the overt ‘them’ and ‘us’ divisions between the religious-minded and the secular – you’re either with us or you are an immoral and unpatriotic Marxist who, by the way, deserves to burn in hell unless you are born again and hold true to the GOP conservative line. After the Moral Majority lingo had outlived it charm, along came the Tea Party – yet another iteration of the same gestalt. It is easy for those of a liberal bent to poo-poo the machinations of pious conservatism, but It is also true that there are many institutions, mores, and customs that should not only be preserved, but, if changed, be changed slowly, over time. These customs and mores are mental constructs that don’t exist outside of anyone’s head. Even Hamlet understood “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” For example, the custom of attending church on Sunday is merely mental construct. The dictum of not torturing animals is also simply a mental construct. Even in mythology, as when Cain killed Abel, there were only 3 people left on earth to decide that it was ‘bad’. Without human judgment, ‘all is simply an event without any baggage of right or wrong, good, or bad.

In general, the liberal-minded enjoy change – they thrive in its promise of a better way, and enjoy thinking about progress; whereas conservatives generally, shy away from change – as it makes them emotionally uncomfortable. Much of this proclivity for both ‘types’ is written in our genes.

Today’s conservatives, especially those in rural America, find themselves horrified by the information streaming at them from every angle that is filled with the spectacle of people whose lives, appearance, sexuality, work ethic, education, and family bonds are far different than what they have known. One recent example, is how, after the disgusting George Floyd tragedy, the killing of an innocent man right in front of us, our most common cultural thread, television, began to change. The social ripples emanating from such events tend to spread through the commercial world as well, as many companies began to hire more actors of color for commercials and television shows. Not only people of color but also more gay couples, interracial couples, and gay couples with children. All this came at rural America at light speed over the airwaves and down fiber optic cables, contributing to the current growing divisions in our country between rural and urban. Imagine living in Starkweather, North Dakota, where no black person has ever lived, and watching nationally televised drag queen shows with Ru Paul and wondering what the hell is happening to 'the America I knew'? But homosexuality, cross-dressing, transitioning genders, interracial relationships, drag shows and everything else deemed unseemly have always been happening, but the media broadcasts the sensational only because that's where people are fascinated and when you capture peoples attention, you make money.

Couple all this with the fact that America is losing its religion and we've got a smoldering cauldron ready to boil over. The pious conservatives have tied their religious faith to morality and see this egalitarian trend as a very personal threat to what they call ‘American Values’. But the religious ‘nones’ – who are made up of both conservatives and liberals – see this as a great liberation from the corruption of Jesus’ basic and simple message of simply treating others as we ourselves would like to be treated.

These cultural changes are irreversible and unavoidable. The biggest block of citizenry who will fight tooth and nail to get us back to the mystical non-existent ‘good old days’ will be the uneducated and untravelled, and the awakened must rely upon the un-awakened majority who have never wrestled with their angels, and their willingness to believe wholeheartedly and simple-mindedly what they have been taught. It is this continuity of culture that will suffer if change is too drastic and too fast. In short, we must move toward change, but slowly, because the fast elimination of cultural bedrocks destabilizes society, and violence often ensues. Also, the shock of the 'new' atheism, coupled with what rural Americans see as the complete abandonment of the old values, is what is driving this Culture War.

It is up to us awakened ones to preserve many of our mores and customs of religion and let the coming changes slowly work their way through our society towards the new light of knowledge and compassion. If we try to rush it, violence will be in order. It's that serious. Bring the untraveled and uneducated to the table of knowledge slowly and with much kindness.