“Politics is downstream from culture.” – Andrew Breitbart
Pastor and writer Paul Anleitner thinks he sees a few:
I don’t study politics, but I do study culture, and here are some of the signs that a cultural shift has been brewing for years in America that most of the professional political analysts just completely missed.
Some of these may seem absurd, but hear me out. 🧵
We’ll start… pic.twitter.com/PUdm30ggxD— Paul Anleitner (@PaulAnleitner) November 6, 2024
His high points:
- Patriotism is back and popular on the silver screen: e.g., Top Gun: Maverick;
- “Anti-woke” comedians gaining attention;
- Corporate retreat from DEI programs;
- Surging enrollment at Christian schools;
- The foofaurauw over the duds from Star Wars;
- The resurgence of Creed.
These are all hopeful signs. However, we must remember that the cultural Establishment has taken great pains to secure those bastions. They may yet be able to expel the Right’s incursions, especially through the power of the paycheck.
My part of this is the indie-writers’ movement. Writers who’ve put their works out independently, bypassing Pub world’s gatekeepers of agents and publishers, appear to be mainly in the Right. Moreover, they’re gaining substantial audiences (present company excepted). Their readers are persistent; they tend to follow them, rather than just reading a book or two and passing on to someone else.
Hopeful, yes… but we need more, especially in the visual media. Consider the immense power of YouTube. It garners many millions of viewers per day. Consider also the thirst of the streaming companies for content. The “cord-cutting” trend of recent years has made those companies eager for material from previously unknown producers and directors. Finally, there’s music, though that’s the hardest of all media with which to popularize a conservative or libertarian message. (How do you write a hit song about the gold standard?)
Do you have a creative bone in your body, Gentle Reader?
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Hmm, I was with him until he listed a Creed resurgence as a good thing. Boring corporate sludge rock is just not my thing.
Author
I don’t care for them myself, but the idea that Christian-flavored music might become popular again appealed to me.
Interesting, I don’t think I knew their music was Christian flavored or inspired. I just remember them being popular so that was the kiss of death to me. I think I heard somewhere that the lead singer of Disturbed was also openly Christian but I’m not sure. I do know POD was definitely a Christian band and I like a bunch of their songs. I agree, it would be nice to have a lot more Christian rock but its either a tough needle to thread or the bands simply can’t get any traction with no support from the industry.
Author
Try Glass Hammer, particularly Lex Rex. It will surprise you.
I’ll have to devote some time to listening but I checked out their cover of Yes’ South Side of the Sky and some clips on iTunes. Pretty obvious Yes influence and Prog Rock which I’m a pretty big fan of already. You probably already heard of them but if you like Glass Hammer then you’ll also like Transatlantic where Neal Morse, the former singer for Spock’s Beard, is openly Christian and backed by a fantastic prog band including Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater.
A prog-metal band I recently got into is Mastodon. Their early stuff has a lot of the ridiculous growling/unintelligible singing that I don’t like at all but their more recent stuff is much more listenable with impressive musicianship.
Author
Yes, I do like Transatlantic, and also the Spock’s Beard years when Morse was with them. All three bands are heavily featured in my CD collection.
Author
And if you like a little metal in your prog, try this: The Gleam of Sword and Spear