My initial thread (to guide responses/perspective):
The culture war has become the most enduring conflict in America as they seek to define racism, discrimination of people of color, abortion, and sexual harassment. These issues are at stake, and they have made citizens respond in a powerful way leaving the local government unpredictable. Cultural wars have made the American communities turn into ideological battlegrounds as they try to end the orthodox that cuts across the ethnic, racial, sexual, political, religious, and class lines that seeks to bring about morality in the nation. Cultural war has been a conflict between the struggle for dominance for social groups for their practices, beliefs, and values.
“Movements like black lives matters advocate more on human rights than civil rights, which rose to fight for racial discrimination and police brutality” (Greene et al. 2019). The movement has fought to reorder society where the lives of Black Americans become free from dehumanization and has had a great impact on the political and legal landscapes. The movement has also influenced society significantly. It has caused change regarding the high profile of corruption among the police that was and still is being experienced. The cultural wars that resulted in the Black Lives Matter movement have forced the restructuring of the national platform by the democrats, including criminal justice reform.
Moreover, the movements such as Me Too and Black Lives Matter, have popularized mediated mobilization through social media that has made it possible to lobby for the rights of the citizens in the country. The media is able to cover the concerns of the citizens, particularly of the local communities. The movements have helped advocate for racial justice among Americans, which has helped created equality among people of different races and ethnicity.
Understanding that we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and that we possess inherent rights such as liberty, property, and life, which cannot be given or taken away from us, can help us live while protecting each other’s rights (Fischer 2020). The government exists to ensure there is justice for its citizens and helps to protect their rights. This should protect Black Americans who have been killed through police brutality when the government works towards protecting the right to life of its citizens.
The Bible on Mark 12:31 emphasizes loving one another just as we love ourselves. This would help us not to violate the inalienable rights of our community members since we are all created in the image of God. With this understanding, it would then be possible to protect the lives of each other and live with respect which would help end the cultural war that exists as we try to fight for justice and equality for all people.
References
Fischer, Kahlib J. 2020. “Biblical Principles of Government and Criminal Justice.” Liberty
University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy 1, no. 1: 3.
Greene, Linda S., Lolita Buckner Inniss, Bridget J. Crawford, Mehrsa Baradaran, Noa Ben-
Asher, I. Bennett Capers, Osamudia R. James, and Keisha Lindsay. 2019. “Talking About Black
Lives Matter and MeToo.” Wis. JL Gender, & Soc’y 34: 109.
https://scholar.smu.edu/law_faculty/701/
Respond to the following:
The impact of Culture Wars on American public policy is significant. America’s cultural infighting shapes every public policy at every level. Policy development and implementation for education, national security, and health care is caught in the cross-fire of the Culture Wars, and the failures of policy makers to resolve these key areas of public policy is a direct result of their adherence to their own unique and collective world views. “A worldview could be considered like a telescope or a magnifying glass, because it helps us see the world. It’s like a framework that determines how we make sense of life,”[1] and “just as individuals have a particular worldview, societies and people have collective world views which in turn leads to political ideology.”[2]
Regarding national security policy, the conflicting and ever-changing world views of the major American political ideologies have had incredible influence on national and world events. The negative effects of the continuously rotating U.S. political ideologies on the global stage have proven to be destabilizing to even our most advanced and prosperous allies, let alone the vulnerable and developing nations that depend on our stability. In essence, the American culture war’s effects on international affairs are substantial. For example, the recent decision by the United states to rapidly pull all forces from Afghanistan was heavily influenced by America’s political infighting and ongoing culture war. The immediate and horrific results have had consequences that directly affect the plight of Afghan women and minorities, which in turn negatively impacted the world views of many in the U.S. who stand for women and minorities, drastically increasing the level of infighting among policymakers. Ironically, a vast majority of those policymakers and the American public were united in the effort to leave Afghanistan, but the reckless way the pull-out was conducted only stoked the fires of division.
Looking at the recent increase of Black Lives Matter protests during and after the Summer of 2020, the catalyst was the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. When the video of the killing was released there was once again a sense of unity among many Americans and policymakers because a vast majority were appalled by the murder, and that majority wanted something to change. That sense of unity quickly disappeared once a minority of protestors (across all races and backgrounds) took to the streets in peaceful and violent protests. As cities burned and police were attacked across the nation, the culture war grew even greater among those were originally unified over the killing of George Floyd. The world views of policymakers on the left and right impacted the policies that were introduced to stop police violence, while the different racial and socioeconomic views of the protesters led to more violence and destruction.
From the ‘Me Too’ movement intended to protect women to the ongoing vaccine debates that could affect everyone’s health, the confluence of drastically different world views has led to a surge in debate, rhetoric, and violence in our ongoing culture war. With political in-fighting negatively affecting our ability to pass laws and create coherent policies, it can be said that statesmanship, defined as “the process by which men and women take a stand for truth and justice, often in difficult circumstances politically, hopefully at the highest political levels, making a difference in society through the implementation of public policy,”[3] has all but disappeared on the national stage. Fewer leaders are following biblical principles of statesmanship, and are instead giving in to conflict and distrust. The effort to embrace and expand an open society, allowing for “tolerance and diversity of all political, social, and religious points of view,”[4] is in theory a common and unifying goal across the political spectrum, but in reality, it is being used by policymakers to gain power over their political opponents.
The American Culture War is becoming increasingly destructive both at home and abroad. According to history, more violence and bloodshed will most likely follow unless a moral and biblical revolution can happen soon. The further our leaders get from the biblical principles that founded our nation, the harder the fall will be.
[1] Dr. Caleb Fischer, “Defining World Views Part 1,” Liberty University Video lecture, https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/84927/pages/watch-defining-worldviews-part-1?module_item_id=11889374, 2:45.
[2] Ibid, 3:15
[3] Dr. Caleb Fischer, “Biblical Principles of Government & Statesmanship,” Liberty University lecture, https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/84927/pages/watch-biblical-principles-of-government-and-statesmanship?module_item_id=11889284, 8:08.
[4] Cochran, et al. American Public Policy: An Introduction, 11th Edition. (Boston: Cengage Learning, 2016), 417.
Response #1 (250 word min., 2 resources required):
Respond to the following:
Impact of Culture Wars on American Policy
Culture war is a concept that was first introduced in the 1960s when the United States was experiencing partisan and religious conflict over cultural matters (Carroggio 2018). During this time, the country experienced the formation of various movements to fight against conservatism that refused to make any changes to accommodate the minority (Carroggio 2018). Consequently, there was the enactment of various laws that assisted in bridging the social and political gap between the whites and the minorities (Carroggio 2018). However, some of those laws were not fully embraced by these supporting conservative ideologies, especially because they conflicted with religious cultural values (Carroggio 2018). Thus, there has always been a way to reverse some of these policies or neglect in their implementation. Nonetheless, there is still war focusing on blocking more upcoming liberal ideologies which seems to interfere with conservatism political and intellectual status quo, and religious traditions. This discussion analyzes the Black Lives Matter and Me Too culture wars and their impact on public policy.
The Black Lives Matter Movement
The Black Lives Matter culture war is a history that is still being written. In April 2016, shortly after the Republican and Democratic Conventions, the Movement for Black Lives unveiled a long-awaited policy platform that outlined its essential beliefs (Haddad, 2018). It laid out six core demands and 40 corresponding policy recommendations, including a call to demilitarize law enforcement, end money bail and end the privatization of public grammar school education in the US (Haddad, 2018). The platform was bold not just in its recommendations, but also in its process. Officially titled ‘A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom, and Justice’, the platform was the result of a year’s work by the Black Lives Matter coalition (Haddad, 2018). It was proof that there is a vast, coordinated movement in the US that is determined to fight for black freedom. The Movement for Black Lives has spurned advances from establishment politicians. They refused to fall in line with the status quo and disrupted liberal and progressive presidential candidates like Clinton and Sanders at rallies and fundraisers. They did not stop at calling for an end to the extrajudicial killings of black men and boys like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Instead, they also demanded that the public at large, particularly black communities, also acknowledge the epidemic of violence aimed at transgender women of color, who are murdered at stunningly disproportionate rates in the United States.
The “Me Too” Movement
The Me Too movement with variations of related local or international names is a social movement against sexual abuse and sexual harassment where people publicize allegations of sex crimes (Lee, 2018). The phrase “Me Too” was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual assault survivor and activist, Tarana Burke (Lee, 2018). Similar to other social justice and empowerment movements based upon breaking silence, the purpose of the Me Too movement, as initially voiced by Burke as well as those who later adopted the tactic, is to empower sexually assaulted individuals through empathy and solidarity through strength in numbers, especially young and vulnerable men and women, by visibly demonstrating how many have survived sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace (Lee, 2018).
After millions of people started using the phrase, and it spread to dozens of other languages, the purpose changed and expanded, and as a result, it has come to mean different things to different people (Lee, 2018). Tarana Burke accepts the title of leader of the movement but has stated that she considers herself more of a worker (Lee, 2018). This movement has grown to include both men and women of all colors and ages, as it continues to support marginalized people in marginalized communities (Lee, 2018). The current purpose of the movement is to give people the resources to have access to healing and to advocate for changes to laws and policies (Lee, 2018). The founder of Me Too has highlighted goals such as processing all untested rape kits, re-examining local school policies, and improving the vetting of teachers (Lee, 2018). She has called for all professionals who work with children to be fingerprinted and subjected to a background check before being cleared to start work (Lee, 2018). She advocates for sex education that teaches kids to report predatory behavior immediately (Lee, 2018). Burke supports the #MeToo bill in the United States Congress, which would remove the requirement that staffers of the federal government go through months of “cooling off” before being allowed to file a complaint against a Congressperson (Lee, 2018).
Another priority for Me Too is changing the laws surrounding sexual harassment and assault (Carmon, et al., 2019). Some policy-based changes that have been suggested include increasing managerial oversight; creating clear internal reporting mechanisms; more effective and proactive disciplinary measures; creating a culture that encourages employees to be open about serious problems; imposing financial penalties for companies that allow workers to remain in their position when they have repeatedly sexually harassed others; and forcing companies to pay huge fines or lose tax breaks if they decide to retain workers who are sexual harassers (Gibson, et al. 2019).
Biblical Approaches to Culture War
Societal shifts are the result of cultural shifts. If culture is understood as the realm of values and ideas, and society as the realm of patterns and policies, then changes in what a group of people holds to be right will overtake the laws by which it abides (Carroggio 2018). Another way of saying that is values dictate policy. If the way a group thinks can be changed, then the way they govern themselves will follow (Carroggio 2018). Real social change cannot be accomplished through political means alone. If conservative values are really going to take root in America again, conservatives need to step onto the ideological battlegrounds of our culture and start producing artifacts that are going to promote their worldview. Those who hold a more liberal and progressive value system seem to dominate the landscapes of academia, entertainment, and journalism. The way we collectively think will change the way we collectively live.
The culture war is nothing new. It’s been happening since Genesis (King James Bible, 1769/2017). And the real combatants are never conservatives and liberals; the real combatants are God and arrogant humanity. One is the Creator, lovingly desiring to redeem His fallen creation, the other is the puny creature, thinking it can live apart from the One who made it. The fact is that every generation of Christians will face a culture war of some kind, and it will be their responsibility to discern between the values of their community and the values of their God. The reason is that biblical values transcend cultural values. And sometimes there’s a galaxy of difference between the two.
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References
Carmon, Irin and Rebecca Thurston. “PL08.1 #METOO Movement, Systems of Power and
Sexual Health and Wellbeing: The Widening of the #METOO Movement.” Sexually
Transmitted Infections 95 (07, 2019),
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=httpswww.proquest.comscholarly-journalspl08-1-metoo-movement-systems-power-sexual-healthdocview2258648384se-2accountid12085.
Carroggio, Marco. “Public Debates on Values in Times of Cultural Wars.” Church,
communication and culture 3, no. 2 (2018): 177–182.
Gibson, Camille, Shannon Davenport, Tina Fowler, Colette B. Harris, Melanie Prudhomme,
Serita Whiting, and Sherri Simmons-Horton. “Understanding the 2017 “Me
Too” Movement’s Timing,” Humanity & Society 43, no. 2 (2019): 217-224.
Haddad, Vincent. “Nobody’s Protest Novel: Novelistic Strategies of the Black Lives Matter
Movement.” The Comparatist 42 (2018): 40-59,
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=httpswww.proquest.comscholarl
y-journalsnobodys-protest-novel-novelistic-strategies-
blackdocview2272768189se-2accountid12085.
King James Bible (2017). King James Bible Online.
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/ (Original Work published 1769).
Lee B. H., #Me Too Movement; It Is Time That We All Act and Participate in Transformation.
(2018): Psychiatry investigation, 15(5), 433. https://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2018.04.30.
Response #2 (250 word min., 2 resources required):
The post My initial thread (to guide responses/perspective): The culture war has become the appeared first on PapersSpot.
