dadaLab
Time for a Truce in the 'Culture Wars'
RECEIVED Wed., Nov. 17, 2004
Dear Editor,
Although I sometimes find myself in agreement with Bill Maher, his comments in last week’s Chronicle highlight something that I think is truly disappointing about the state of tolerance in our current political climate ["The Bad American," Arts, Nov. 12]. Maher points out that the main obstacle to our country’s intellectual enlightenment is our national inclination toward religion, which he claims is a product of America being "young" and "dumb." I find this analysis to be both incredibly egotistical and prejudicial, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he was speaking out of frustration over the presidential election.
What is most important to note here is the intolerance and bigotry that Maher’s comments betray, a narrow-mindedness that is equally present on both sides of the, for lack of a better word, "culture war." Does the fierce antagonism between the religious right and the secular left wing really boil down to each side fearing the other’s evil plot to make decisions based on their own personal beliefs? Perhaps each faction thinks that the other will disappear once they have been properly condemned. Having an outspoken intellectual class, as we do, poses no clear threat to religion that I can see. Likewise, it’s hard for me to comprehend exactly how having a practicing religious population stands in the way of intellectual progress. The true problem, in fact, lies in the government’s unchecked power to prohibit any form of progress it chooses, a tool that will be monopolized by whichever faction is at the helm in Washington.
The question that I find truly disturbing here is: Will either side of the "culture war" stop campaigning in their own self-interest long enough to realize that they’re destroying our civil liberties?
Although I sometimes find myself in agreement with Bill Maher, his comments in last week’s Chronicle highlight something that I think is truly disappointing about the state of tolerance in our current political climate ["The Bad American," Arts, Nov. 12]. Maher points out that the main obstacle to our country’s intellectual enlightenment is our national inclination toward religion, which he claims is a product of America being "young" and "dumb." I find this analysis to be both incredibly egotistical and prejudicial, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he was speaking out of frustration over the presidential election.
What is most important to note here is the intolerance and bigotry that Maher’s comments betray, a narrow-mindedness that is equally present on both sides of the, for lack of a better word, "culture war." Does the fierce antagonism between the religious right and the secular left wing really boil down to each side fearing the other’s evil plot to make decisions based on their own personal beliefs? Perhaps each faction thinks that the other will disappear once they have been properly condemned. Having an outspoken intellectual class, as we do, poses no clear threat to religion that I can see. Likewise, it’s hard for me to comprehend exactly how having a practicing religious population stands in the way of intellectual progress. The true problem, in fact, lies in the government’s unchecked power to prohibit any form of progress it chooses, a tool that will be monopolized by whichever faction is at the helm in Washington.
The question that I find truly disturbing here is: Will either side of the "culture war" stop campaigning in their own self-interest long enough to realize that they’re destroying our civil liberties?
Josh Loposer
