Re – the view from the sidelines, yes, this has been an unedifying thread, and I think it’s time for it to go to its grave.

The “Cultural Left” are the multi-culti UN-hugging bourgeois luvvies who have increasingly pack-raped the ALP since the 1970s.

I hope this helps.

In the pre-Vietnam era the Class Warring Old Left supported the proles as the social basis for progressive politics. But as the workers got richer they got less Leftier.

The New Left was born out of the collapse in communist faith after the publication of Kruschev’s secret speech denouncing Stalin.

Then the Cultural Revolution happened and various group of low-status emerged into political society, demanding political representation and social equity on the basis of identity.

The New Left had found lost its old heroes and found a new victim group. The key text in this debate was C Wright Mills letter to New Left Review. It is worth quoting the words of this brilliant thinker in full:

the historic agencies of change for liberals of the capitalist societies have been an array of voluntary associations, coming to a political climax in a parliamentary or congressional system. For socialists of almost all varieties, the historic agency has been the working class — and later the peasantry; also partie and unions variously composed of members of the working class

I cannot avoid the view that in both cases, the historic agency (in the advanced capitalist countries) has either collapsed or become most ambiguous: so far as structural change is concerned, these don’t seem to be at once available and effective as our agency any more.

In the post-Vietnam era all these groups became the focus of the New Left Culture Warriors. The workers, formerly lionised as heroes, now became demonised as “red necks”.

The Right saw a chance to rope in the white married working class, who were rising in status (“embourgeoisment”) and not so keen on sharing resources with feminists, multiculturalists, gays, greenies etc. This is the so-called Right wing “wedge” against the low-status.

Of course exactly the same partisan wedge is played by the Left against the high-status, as seen by “Doctors Wives” voting pinko.

So the Culture War is really the political conflict over the social status struggle between higher-status white working class family men and lower-status non-white, non-working class, non-family, non-men.

The Cultural Left’s attitude to the white working class family men is to either retrieve its vote or belittle its status. The Cultural Right’s political opportunity is present because white working class families are both improved in status and populist in political force. This is why the white working class family vote is the key to the Right’s political success in post-modernising democracy.

Jeebus Jack that’s some hardcore barrel-scratching when Alan Wood and Matt Price make it into the left.

Wood was a typo, although most metropolitan Financial Rightists tend to be Cultural Leftists eg Hewson.

Matt Price has never done much more than hew the Cultural Left party line, with a few wise-cracks thrown in as ironic smoke screen.

The Cultural Left’s hegemony over metropolitan cultural opinion is almost complete, apart from a few token dissidents. It is interesting to note that the populus started to shift away from the Cultural Leftism in the mid-nineties, just as the elites Cultural Leftism peaked. Political pride came before the Decline of the Wets.

BTW, the Financial Right’s hegemony over metropolitan financial opinion almost completely paralleled and presaged the the trajectory of the Cultural Left. In the early nineties elite opinion tended to be Financial Rightist just popular opinion started to swing to the Fiscal Left. In this case, Hewson’s getting “done like toast” in 1993 was the sign of the Decline of the financial Scrooges. We are all fiscal Santas now, especially Howard.

The decline of the Financial Right and Cultural Left are both symptoms of a general movement towards political conservatism. People are tired of Brave New Worlds of social revolution.

Jack (or anyone else for that matter): Seeing this thread is so friggin’ long anyway, please explain what constitutes the “Cultural Leftâ€?? While you’re there, illustrating the characteristics of the “Financial Rightâ€? might be helpful too?

Right and Left wing in the post-Enlightenment era refers to the alignment of political forces between the Right who support the established higher-status groups (bosses, generals, preachers) and the Left who support the ascendant lower-status groups (workers, women, coloureds, gays, animals).

Ideological debate in the post-Cold War era conventionally sub-divides into three major sub-conflicts:

– Class War (fiscal equity)
– Culture War (cultural identity)
– Civilizational Clash (national security)

The Class War is obviously waged between the Financial Right (Srooges) who support regressive policies for capitalists and the Fiscal Left (Santas) who support progressive policies for non-capitalists.

The Culture war is waged between the Conservative Right (Dries) who staunchly support a traditionally unified authority and the Constructivist Left (Wets) who favour fashionably diversified autonomies.

The Civilizational Clash, such as it is, was debated between the aggressive nationalist Right (Hawks) and passive globalist Left (Doves). But this particular debate is now consensually moving towards a multilateral legalist (owls) position.

My point is that someone had earlier wondered what this thread looked like from the sidelines…

<sidelines>At first it shaped up to be an interesting discussion about the idea and practice of democracy that quickly descended into antagonistic posturing and bracketing of opponents. In the process, unhelpful and seemingly vacuous labels are bandied about in the guise of argument. This last characteristic has especially created for me a disinclination to participate. Anyway, all this bitching makes for great drama – like bad reality TV, this thread is something many prefer to watch than be a part of.</sidelines>

Still, nice to see the old tuning fork out.

the incredibly hyperbolic and skewed perspectives and the influence of the punditariat who fancy themselves as culture warriors.

Oh come off it mark! You have really drifted into the intellectual twilight zone if you think op-eds are dominated by conservative culture warriors. The culture war is mainly waged by constructivists, who seem to be on some kind of op-ed macro, especially in the Fairfax press.

The ideological bias in broadsheet press op-eds is mainly to the Cultural Left. With some leavening towards the Financial Right in the business pages.

A fact-free argument is a waste of time. Lets do a straw poll.

In the SMH the Left outnumbers the Right by about two to one, especially when you consider the fact that occasional op-eds are dominated by the Left, mostly disgruntled multiculturalists.

SMH – LEFT

Richard Ackland
Mike Carlton
Elizabeth Farrelly
Richard Glover
Adele Horin
Alan Ramsey
Anne Summers

SMH – RIGHT

Paul Sheehan
Miranda Devine
Michael Duffy
Gerard Henderson

In the Age the ideological disparity is grotesque and ludicrous. All permanent op-edders list to port.

THE AGE – LEFT

Hugh Mackay
Shaun Carney
Robert Manne
Sushi Das
Royce Millar
Ken Davidson

THE AGE – RIGHT

There are no permanent right wing op-edders on the Age. None at all.

Only in the Australian could one say that there is some kind of ideological balance on the op-ed page.

AUSTRALIAN
LEFT

PHILLIP ADAMS
MATT PRICE
EMMA TOM
ALAN WOOD

RIGHT

PAUL KELLY
JANET ALBRECHTSEN
DENNIS SHANAHAN
GREG SHERIDAN
FRANK DEVINE
CHRISTOPHER PEARSON

Of course just about every cartoonist publishing in the MSM is a Left winger, eg Leunig, Nicholson, Tanner, Petty, Peak et al. These are easily the most influential op-edders.

True the tabloid press has a high proportion of foaming at the mouth right-wingers. But everyone who reads the preachers in the tabloid press is already converted.

And then of course, there is the ABC. ‘Nuff said.

jg, thanks, and whatever.

Bamboozled by the CFMEU? What a hoot! And you are the soul and conscience of the Left? ROFLMAO. Oh, luvvie, this is pure gold. I am eagerly linking this thread to all emails I send to my left-wing pals. Jesus, with luvvies like you, Mckenzie Wark, TJ and the gang on board, who needs enemies!