Ian Leslie on the culture war

There is an interesting article by Ian Leslie on "The Critic" called "We are all culture warriors" which points out the inconsistency that those on the left who claim that the so-called "culture wars" are an unnecessary distraction started by people on the right often seem to be among those most invested in attacking aspects of culture which they disagree with. He argues that we are all culture warriors but some of us pretend not to be.

As he puts it,

"The idea of a “fabricated culture war” ginned up by right-wing media and Tory politicians is a staple of liberal-left discourse. The implicit premise seems to be that if it weren’t for those pesky culture warriors, the British people would gladly accept, for instance, that there is no meaningful distinction between a trans woman and a natal woman, or that their own country is indelibly racist. I don’t think so. Propositions like those may or may not be true, but they are, to say the very least, contentious among readers and voters at large. If leftists want to fight for them, they should. What they shouldn’t do is pretend they’re not fighting.

Here is a funny thing about Britain’s “culture war”: the people who decry it the most are those who are most invested in it. Almost every time you read an article making an accusation of culture war, it’s by someone on the left who is spraying bullets at an enemy." 

You can read the whole article here.