The Rise of Traditional Culture Warriors

Yesterday, I picked up a copy of Bill O'Reilly's new book Culture Warrior. I don't usually agree with everything the man has to say, but at least he is out there standing up for most of the critical cultural issues that traditional warriors agree with, while at the same time, reasonably stating why secular progressives need to be confronted and challenged for their very different views of what America's moral culture should strive to be.

While skimming through the book, I found some interesting points that I do agree with.

O'Reilly writes:

By the way, traditional warriors do not base their philosophy on bigotry, as many secular-progressive propaganda merchants charge. We look at what is best for the country.

He goes on to state that respect for legal partnerships is a decent view. But altering the traditional fabric of society is not necessary in order to do that. I agree wholeheartedly with that last statement!

He then mentions how Catholic leaders tend to remain silent in the face of the culture war because they don't want to become targets.

We can certainly see that Bill is right in this evaluation. The recent barrage of criticism and condemnation leveled at the Pope for his comments regarding Muslims shows that Catholics easily become targets.

Bill goes on:

To be fair (a hallmark of the traditional warrior), it is certainly true that if a religious person does wander onto the cultural battlefield, he or she better have a strong stomach, because he or she has a good chance of being demonized.

Stanley Kurtz, contributing editor for National Review Online, sums it up this way:

The fact of the matter is that the Left's [secular progressives] rhetorical attacks on conservative Christians [traditionalists] have long been more extreme, more widely disseminated, and more politically effective than whatever the Christians have been hurling back. And now that their long ostracism by the media has finally forced conservative Christians to demand redress, the Left has abandoned all rhetorical restraint.

Kurtz points to a number of examples. On April 24, 2005, the secular progressive fanatic Frank Rich, writing in the New York Times, compared conservative Christians to George Wallace, segregationists, and lynch mobs.

In a similar vein, Christopher Hedges, a former New York Times writer, produced an article in Harper's magazine called "Feeling the Hate with the National Religious Broadcasters."

O'Reilly goes on to describe how Hedges patched together a series of vitriolic statements by a few religious broadcast pundits in order to achieve the goal of selectively painting the picture that the religious right is nuts.

Bill states:

This is standard issue for secular-progressive magazine writers: dig up kooky quotes and print them without context. Any writer can do that to any subject. It's simple but off-the-chart dishonest.

O'Reilly admits that there have been some nutty statements made by the traditional side, but the media only plays up such statements big time when made by traditionalists. When a secular-progressive player uses looney rhetoric, like calling all Americans who oppose gay marriage bigots, you can be sure that most in the American mainstream media would not have a problem with that. To use a cliche', the deck is stacked.

I think that the popularity of blogs and the voices of traditional warriors who write them have given a huge voice for conservative Christian values and issues. This new media has taken over the mainstream media's former propagandistic monopolization of the news and the analysis of what the news means for (and against) America. The mainstream media is unfortunately guilty of mis-statements about issues (especially when it comes to the war on terror and the Bush administration) while, at the same time, ignoring the good that is being done and the true facts that are out there.

Want to see propaganda in action? Just watch Keith Olbermann's Countdown for just one night. The man is the looney left's secular-progressive dream!

The rise of traditional culture warriors through the new media of the blogosphere is certainly a good thing, in my view. Gone are the days when secular-progressives could get away with their vitriolic hate-spewing rhetoric without being called on it!

9/28/06 Update: Be sure to read Obi's Sister's excellent blogpost on the fact that blogs are maturing, gaining credibility and momentum as more and more people reach their personal level of disgust and distrust of MSM and look for alternative sources of information. Check out the great links in her post, too!

Ha ha ha! Check out this cartoon strip at Captain's Quarters and article, 'Is That To Much To Ask?'
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