Culture War: Inside the rage machine

Origin Story

Culture war: it’s been around way longer than Fox News raging against drag queens or The Last Jedi. Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt trace the history of the hatreds that split societies from Bismarck’s original German kulturkampf up to climate denial, gun fetishism, the demonisation of liberal Hollywood, and our modern hellscape of permanent outrage. The secret weapon of culture warriors? Permanent grievance in a battle they can never win.

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• “Culture war is not about victory. It’s about perpetual rolling grievance.”
• “The rhetoric of culture war is absolutist. Your opponents are the absolute worst. They are morally evil and must be stopped.”
• “The Republicans manage to unhook class conflict from economics and took it to culture. Which was genius.”

Written and presented by Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt. Audio production and music by Jade Bailey. Logo art by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production

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