There are numerous opinions on the issue of the culture war, does it actually exists or is it a myth that the media tell to the public in order to get attention. In the article How Divided Are We?, James Q. Wilson started the article with “The 2004 election left our country deeply divided over whether our country is deeply divided.” This refers to the question whether the culture war actually exists in the United States or it was only a myth. Since the early stages of the United States, the election for president always ended up with each candidate getting about half of the entire voters’ population. It was rare to see a big difference in votes for the final election to see who gets to become president. In my opinion, the culture war is not …show more content…
Some of the immigrants chose to blend in with the American culture which is totally different from their homeland while others chose to stick with the traditions that they are used to instead of blending in. There are also a group of immigrants who chose to blend in while sticking to the traditions that they are used to. Since there is a big cultural difference between America and their homeland, there are probably numerous issues that the immigrants cannot agree with the decision that America has. This is related to the political parties of the United States because many of these immigrants want to blend in as fast as possible and one of the ways was to be a part of the political party and support even if they are not eligible to vote. This would help them prove to America that they really love America and they hope that it would become a better …show more content…
written by Morris P. Fiorina, it was said that the one who loved the idea of a culture war the most was the news reporters. Towards the beginning of the article, it was said that, “Conflict, of course, is high in news value. Disagreement, division, polarization, battles and war make good copy. Agreement, consensus, moderation, compromise, and peace do not. Thus, the concept of a culture war fits well with the news sense of journalists who cover American politics.” As mentioned earlier, there were many people who wondered whether or not the culture war was a myth told by the media or it was actually taking place. The media always look for interesting things to cover on the news in order to get more viewers. Normally, the media would cover more bad things such as war and disagreements instead of the good things such as peace. Many people are not that interested in good news as they have better things to worry about. They are instead more worried about bad news such as war because it has a higher possibility of affecting their lives. Based on this, media decided to cover more news on the bad stuff since it would catch more attention from the public. If there was not a culture war in the first place, then the media would not be able to come up with the term ‘culture war’ and cover it in the news. In order for the media to cover something, there must be some credible source or else they would cover it or else no one would become interested if they are
In chapter one, Fiorina begins with a powerful quote from Pat Buchanan’s 1992 speech at the Republican National Convention, “There is a religious war…a cultural war as critical to the…nation…as the cold war…for this war is for the soul of America” (Fiorina et al. 1). Using several other quotes, he illustrates the belief that the nation is torn between personal morals and extreme conservative notions. He then states his belief that these sentiments are complete nonsense, and exaggerations. There is no culture war according to Fiorina, no war for the soul of America. Describing the culture war as a myth caused by lack of information, misrepresentation of facts by activists, and selective media coverage. He suggests that Americans are essentially bystanders avoiding the cross fire between the left and right wing activists. Furthermore, he contrasts that it is the American choices that are polarized due to politicians, thus creating the appearance of a politically polarized society. Finally, he concludes the first chapter by outlining his argument in the following chapters. Fiorina does an exceptional job hooking the reader with his first chapter, the quotes and various examples of how America is portrayed as polarized are effective in swaying the audience to agree and then he shocks the reader by debunking all previous statements with his personal beliefs and outline for how he plans to prove his argument.
Increasingly over the past two decades and in part thanks to the publication of James Davison Hunter’s book, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, the idea of a culture war in American politics has been gaining attention. While the tension between conservatives and liberals is palpable, it’s intensity has proven hard to measure. However, it doesn’t seem that many Americans are polarized on the topic of polarization as most would agree that the culture war is real (Fiorina, 2005). This thinking is what prompted Morris Fiorina to write the book Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. In it, Fiorina outlines an argument against the idea of a culture war by looking at party affiliation by states, how public opinion on hot button issues changed over time and various explanations for why Americans are so hung up on the topic of polarization. While Fiorina makes a good argument, the evidence supporting the culture war is too powerful to explain away.
Americans have embraced debate since before we were a country. The idea that we would provide reasoned support for any position that we took is what made us different from the English king. Our love of debate came from the old country, and embedded itself in our culture as a defining value. Thus, it should not come as a surprise that the affinity for debate is still strong, and finds itself as a regular feature of the mainstream media. However, if Deborah Tannen of the New York Times is correct, our understanding of what it means to argue may be very different from what it once was; a “culture of critique” has developed within our media, and it relies on the exclusive opposition of two conflicting positions (Tannen). In her 1994 editorial, titled “The Triumph of the Yell”, Tannen claims that journalists, politicians and academics treat public discourse as an argument. Furthermore, she attempts to persuade her readers that this posturing of argument as a conflict leads to a battle, not a debate, and that we would be able to communicate the truth if this culture were not interfering. This paper will discuss the rhetorical strategies that Tannen utilizes, outline the support given in her editorial, and why her argument is less convincing than it should be.
The culture war is not an issue of cultural differences, but more of religious and moral differences. References Bowman, Carl Desportes. The Myth of a Non-Polarized America. 2011. The. The Hedgehog: Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture.
James Wilson’s article, “How Divided are We?”, attempts to convince the reader that there is polarization (a culture war) in the United States. Wilson does not define polarization by partisan disagreements solely, rather as “an intense commitment to a candidate, a culture, or an ideology that sets people in one group definitively apart from people in another, rival group” (Canon 205). This polarization stretches to the extent that one group’s set of beliefs is totally correct and the rival is wholly wrong (Canon 206). Wilson provides three chief factors for the growth of polarization...
Hundreds and Thousands of immigrants settled where jobs were located. Since the Immigrants came to the United States without knowing English and having different cultures, it was difficult for them to fit into the American culture. Furthermore, Immigrants still maintained their customs, food, and language. Social tension grew between the American citizens and the immigrants because they were considered different. A lot of American citizens were afraid that the new immigrants would not become part of the American society. Also, the American citizens did not like the immigrants because they took their jobs. For that reason, many large nativist groups emerged like the Ku Klux Klan, the Immigration Restriction League, and the Chinese Exclusion Act to stop the immigration flow. Even Though, the immigrants did not get along with the American citizens, immigrants helped transform American society and culture into a diversity
In conclusion, immigration is a pressing issue in America. Immigrants can help society, in order to get their help we must reform our beliefs about them and reform our current system for immigration. The political party that is most willing to change is the democrats. Their welcome immigrants with open hands and they are willing to change for the greater good of
The article “The Cultural Defense” is a prime example of how cultural rights and cultural relativity interplay with one another. Cultural relativism is the position that the values and standards of cultures differ and deserve respect (page 30). In the article, the author explains how a man burned himself alive to bring attention to the oppression of Buddhism in Vietnam. His friends recorded it and they were charged with second-degree manslaughter. The author uses an unbiased tone to explain why they did what they did. The author tried to understand the social norm of the other culture without using his or her morals or social norms of their culture. It was clear, the men didn 't think they did anything wrong. It is a common practice from where
Immigration is what has made America what it is today. America expresses concerns of the growing immigrant population, but those concerns vary and are expressed with intensity by the different segments of the population. There is immigrants all over the world seeking for a better future. Some of these countries where these immigrants come from are from Mexico, Canada, and china. Most of the immigrants here in America are Mexican. They are known to come with big groups, such as their families. It is easy to get from Mexico to the U.S because of the border, they are parallel to each other which makes it equal to seek a new life in
“What makes someone American isn 't just blood or birth, but allegiance to our founding principles and faith in the idea that anyone form anywhere can write the next chapter of our story” –Barack Obama. Immigration is flawed in the United Sates. Most North Americans have a feeling of hate towards immigrants from all over the world, because they think that immigrants are taking their jobs. The fact is that immigrants actually play a huge role in the economy and development of a country. The whole United States is built on immigrants. Throughout American history, millions of people around the world have left their home countries for a chance to start a new life in the U.S and they continue to emigrate. There are some theories as to why people
The portrayal of different cultures is a vast spectrum, from cultural appropriation to multiculturalism. Using a culture for profits or misinterpreting a culture without knowing the significance of that culture is an easy way to end up culturally appropriating. This is simply distasteful and abuse of a different culture. We must check ourselves in order to not commit this act and to remain respectful of different cultures. On the other end of the spectrum, multiculturalism is the proper way of bringing cultures together and helps to unify
Western countries have been suspected of using their position and power to cultivate cultures around the world through the use of media. These cultures are inspired by western cultures and are a powerful way to gain and maintain dominance especially in third world countries. This essay is aimed at arguing a case against global cultural imperialism. Key areas taken into cognizance in this work are, firstly the definition of key terms used in this essay. Secondly, this essay focusses on the demerits of global cultural imperialism though media use namely, erosion of the youth’s indigenous cultures, the use of media to portray western cultures as superior relative to other cultures, contamination of indigenous cultures through the unruly content found in western media productions, western cultures and living standards as shown though the media promotes brain drain in less developed countries, western produced products promoted on global media present unfair competition to local products and how global cultural imperialism is being used to spread western propaganda hence misleading the youth. Lastly this essay concludes with a conclusion.
Culture refers to the collection of values, customs, and attitudes of a group of people belonging to certain area, country or a place. It shapes individuals’ habits, knowledge, experiences, and their perspectives. It is important to avoid ethnocentricity since it creates a bias in which, one views their own culture to be superior over other cultures. In the age of globalization, such single-minded bias can prove to be costly as it can lead to undermining positive characteristics of other cultures. This in return can create negative relationship with citizens from other cultures as well as their governments.
Culture, a word almost everyone hears whenever there is sociological discussion that transcends various formats ranging from scholarly articles to local news station broadcasts. Culture contains a myriad of definitions depending on the perspective and lenses which are used to view it. Since it is a difficult concept to grasp at first, we do not realize the true scale of culture and its responsibility in dictating many actions within our daily lives. Different cultures are found all throughout the world, from the ever increasing western culture to smaller tribal cultures such as the wintu in California (“Vanishing Voices”). What must be taken into account is the fact that culture is heavily intertwined within society, since they both interact
The false analogy is the idea that bad culture drives out good culture like bad money does to good money. At this point one cannot help but think about the definition of “good” or “bad” culture. Good according to whom? Even if there was a certain way to distinguish them, it can be said that all aspects of culture are expanding, be it “bad” or “good”.