There is a surging groundswell in the grass roots of America. I’ve noticed it (I daresay I’ve been a part of it) for the last few years. It is pushing back against the left-wing cultural svengalis and their Narrative. It’s not huge or sensational (yet), but it is widespread.
Anti-war protestors in the 1960s had a saying that went something like this: “What if there was a war, but nobody showed up?” Well, I’ll tell you what happens when one side doesn’t show up: that side loses.
For generations centrists and everyone right-of-center simply have not shown up for the culture wars. Predictably, the leftists have blitzed right through battlefields of opinion and ideas unopposed–like the Red Army rolling through eastern Poland in 1939–so that their monopoly on the flow of information, including creative expression, was ironclad.
It took some irritated computer nerds to show us that the left is far from invincible.
In fact, #gamergate showed the world that the SJWs, feminists and Marxists (cultural and otherwise) are not only vulnerable, they’ve become arrogant from never being challenged for so long, and prove to be weak, inept cowards when confronted by a smart, determined opposition. They are beatable. Very much so.
But you have to actually show up to the fight if you’re going to beat them.
In greater and greater numbers, the right wing is finally showing up to fight in the war for the mind and soul of our posterity.
One of the armies joining battle now is the Conservative/Libertarian Fiction Alliance.
Looking for a good book to read, but tired of sucker punches and nihilistic misery when all you want to do is relax? You’re in luck … Behold! A gallery of conservative and libertarian-friendly fiction.
The CLFA has expanded from Facebook into their own website, and are compiling a wish-list library of books written by non-leftists (or at least sans the ubiquitous leftist Narrative rammed down our throat at every turn).
Books need not be political or moral message fiction; we’re mainly looking for good, entertaining stories that happen to embrace things we love, like individualism, self-reliance, the importance of liberty, and so on. Sometimes these books are even written by self-proclaimed leftist authors. But whatever – a good story is a good story!
Hoowah. At least one of my favorite books was written by an author who I later met, and it turned out we were quite at odds, politically. But by whatever arrangement of circumstances, he told a great story.
It’s nice to read a novel with a political slant that cuts against The Narrative. But often, it’s even nicer to read a book that’s apolitical–no message or counter-message; just a good story, told well. But even those are more and more difficult to find, so it pleases me that such books won’t be excluded from the CLFA gallery.
(BTW, have you ever noticed how right-wingers are open about their political biases, but left-wingers pretend to be impartial centrists and throw a fit when you call them out on their biases? Hmm…there’s at least one blog post in that curious state of things.)
CLFA’s gallery of fiction is in its infancy right now, but already it is proving to be as diverse as the right wing writ large. Authors run the gamut from “social libertarians” and “establishment conservatives” all the way to radical “religious right” rebels like me. You’ll find not only tradpubbed popular authors like Larry Correia and Andrew Klavan, but plenty of indie authors you’ve been missing out on until now.
The CLFA has also organized its own award. I believe this is the second year of said award. The finalists have been chosen for 2015 and voting begins in June to determine the winner.
WWII was the last time the USA fought a war with the intention of pursuing absolute victory. It wasn’t just the soldiers, sailors and marines committed to the war effort–the wives, children, parents, grandparents and 4Fs also did what they could. They bought War Bonds, collected cans, organized bake sales, wrote letters to GIs overseas, and fed them or danced with them when they came home.
If you are a reader, consider doing your part on the home front of the Culture War. When you’re looking for a good book, go somewhere like the CLFA first. (And buy using their links, to help them offset the cost of their website–and provide them incentive for the time and effort they put into doing this for us.) If you’re going to spend your “voting dollars” on a book anyway, why not vote for books written by authors who are fighting to take our culture back? When you discover a good read, don’t just finish it and go about your business–write a review and increase the book/author’s chances of being discovered by others who would appreciate it like you did. Then tell another reader about your discovery.
It’s natural to assume that documentary films and nonfiction books would be the most influential weapons in the culture war, but they’re not. Entertainment, in its various forms (fiction, movies, music, etc.) has been an enormous influence on how people think. Consider which political faction has dominated entertainment; then examine the state of our culture today. If that dominance isn’t challenged now, while it’s still possible, you are only going to get more of the same and worse…but to a greater degree.
The soldiers on our side in this war are marching to the sound of the guns. Your support would be dearly appreciated, down in the trenches.
I “re-blogged” you over at Book Horde (www.bookhorde.org) and featured one of your book covers.
I LOVE the WWII art on your blog, btw.
vm recently posted…Henry Brown on the Culture Wars
Outstanding, VM. Thanks very much.
Glad you liked my choice of the WWII motif. I hope it helps get the point across that we need to be as determined in fighting the culture war as the country as a whole was about fighting Germany and Japan.
Nice Blog
Thanks VM for finding it.
Pardon me while I skulk around in the archives and the booklists.
Thanks for boosting the signal for CLFA! We’re working hard to expand our reach and help readers find stories that support (or at least don’t attack) their values. Politics is temporary, but stories endure.
Marina recently posted…Book Review: Iron Chamber of Memory by John C. Wright
Great post, Hank. Very well said. I hope this spreads like wildfire.
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