The philosophy of the culture wars — why we need to talk about what we are actually talking about

How would you describe the philosophy or beliefs of the West? It’s a hard question to answer, we are dominated primarily by a kind of individualism, augmented by ideas of multiculturalism and inclusivity although even these later ideas are fragmenting into resurgent forms of nationalism and increasingly divisive rhetoric around subjects such as immigration. A large characterisation of the west might simply be the increasing polarisation around almost every issue. So what do we actually believe?

This seems like a somewhat incidental or academic question but it is fundamental to the entire public world we inhabit. We all consume news media with the assumption, especially in the UK of the ‘impartial’ BBC, that we are consuming ‘what is happening’ rather than breathing in the air of a value-system, but the things news outlets write about, the fads of outrage or social justice, the things that undergird the news are so significant that the content orientation and opinions of news itself can largely be considered a kind of emergent phenomenon. In spite of what a conspiracy theorist might say they are far less intentional than we think, and are largely blown by the winds of what kinds of ideas and trends are shaping us. This is more clear in America where polarised news outlets deliver…