A Work In Progress
, most of domestic politics these days revolve around culture and morals, which is fine with me. But what kind of culture are the "conservatives" projecting as the alternative to the namby pamby wimpy politically correct culture. What I see as models are just as contemptible as the liberals they oppose. It seems that conservative man has morphed into a lout like Al Bundy. Not that we are really as bad as that, but that's the image that is projected throught the mass culture. I can accept a little Animal House tough guys don't care stuff and understand it is a natural reaction to the prissiness of the guilt mongerers on the Left. But it's a poor goal to shoot for.
Good conservative role models are lacking in the pop culture.This is mostly due to Leftist white male haters but the Bruce Willises inspire a little more confidence than another Baldwin. Trey Parker and Howard Stern are popular entertainers who expouse conservative/libertarian views and mock liberals. But they pander ignorance, crudity and soft core porno. Stern is probably one of the most egotistical, crude, self centered person alive. South Park's scripts sounds like they are lifted from the boy's room wall. As if the occassional swipe at leftist stupidity justifies living like a dirt bag. Now advertisers are catching on: they glorify ignorant, lazy, crude sleazebags who eat junk food, watch soft core porno and nude wrestling and drink crummy beer. They seem to think that mocking pc cliches makes their crudity acceptable, like the guys who brag about never eating vegetables or hating house plants is some sort of political statement. The new slew of beer comercials like the Coors, and Budweiser ads harp the theme that men are dumb yahoos and it's working on the yahoos. The stock conservative idol used to be a military man: selfless, honorable and brave. But society doesn't need to be more militarized to rescue it from sloth of the pop culture. Or they tilt towards the other extreme and get involved in strict religious groups that expouse good moral behavior but shut themselves out of the mainstream. I understand there disgust and withdrawl, but we have to live in the big world, not in our own little one. Face it, pop culture is crude, ugly, sexually charged and intellectually vacant, worthy of reams of contempt. While most of this can be blamed on the amoral types who gravitate towards the left, when the right gets involved it doesn't get much better.
So what should the neo conservative man be like? Well, a little bit more of intellectual enlightenment wouldn't hurt. Conservatives seem to be big on book sales these days and tend now to be more intelligent and learned than the idiots who only parrot the party line. So when is the media going to catch on? When is someone going to question the modern overblown sexual appetites and obsessions in a way that doesn't smack of old fashioned prudery? In these days of business scandals, we need more moral growth than Bush Jr's simplistic bromides. Face it, Bush might be better than Gore, but he is not intelligent and horrible speaker, almost infantile, which invites ridicule. It seems sometimes conservative enjoy sounding simple and stupid, even when they aren't. Respecting the common man doesn't mean you have to sink to the lowest common denominator, something that is always a problem in a free enterprise democracy. When Bush Senior started eating pork rinds and playing horseshoes he was callled a phony. I wish he was, but he seemed earnest in his attempt to sink lower to increase popularity. At least he didn't compromise his principles.
What I really want to see is a new man being marketed: educated, restrained, open but principled, fun loving but sober when necessary. I want to see this model projected in the pop culture. But what we have is a fifty year attack on the American man that depicts him as a morally and intellectual subpar loser who needs his wife and kids to show him the way, pretty sad! We are what we watch and the media can do better than "Married with Children" or "Cheers". Thank god they're killing "Friends". Liberal men, like uber twerp Alan Alda, are the only worthy men regularly portrayed as moral and decent, along with the stereotyped strong smart black men. We need a new hero and role model. We don't need uber wimps like Jonah who complain about the environmentalists while proving them right by driving a '63 Caddy cross country. Conservative man must be a good outdoorsman, practical environmentalist who lives in the modern world.
