Why do Conservatives Lose the Culture War?
Dark Elves, Dissident Dandies & Right-Wing Bohemians.
Leftists are insufferable. But they’re also chic, vogue, à la mode. Anyone who is someone is left-wing. Artists, literati, glitterarati—all left-wing. Yet all so right, so cool, so trendy!
The right are right about crime, immigration, and human nature. But they’re so gauche. So déclasse. So… embarrassing!
Maybe you don’t like the fact that your city increasingly resembles Shittagong. Maybe you’re sick of listening to land acknowledgements. Maybe you even think that crime should be, God forbid, criminalised. Maybe you should speak up!
But do you really want to be one of them? Do you really want to be one of those people? No, certainly not. Nobody wants to be right-wing. Not even right-wing people want to be right-wing. That’s why they’re always at pains to explain that they’re ‘not like the other conservatives.’
What explains this? Why is conservatism low-status? And more importantly, why should anyone care?
In this essay, I’m going to argue that status considerations—not logical reasoning—determine what most people believe politically. In other words, it’s not so much what’s being said, but how it’s being said, and who is saying it.
