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I disagree. The fact that American conservatives don't make very much art isn't especially material*, both because popular art still tended to defer to conservative sensibilities and, more importantly, because I am not just talking about art. Piecemeal challenges to conservative cultural hegemony didn't change the underlying fact that you had to convince conservatives to let you succeed and conservatives were still ultimately setting the baseline. ∃ liberals who have substantial breaks from conservative orthodoxy is not the same thing as liberals driving culture. It took 45 years to go from Stonewall to Obergfell, and that issue still isn't exactly settled. Hell, you had Prop 8 in California in 2008. The 80s were full of conservative backlash to the cultural turmoil of the 70s and the 90s were marked by Clinton's 'triangulation' strategy (i.e. pivoting right on a lot of issues) and a general sense that everything was fine, don't rock the boat.
*Although perhaps a better metaphor then would be that conservatives were in the back of the cultural limousine, being chauffeured around by liberals.
I think art and education are the critical components of gaining control of the culture. Culture is the water you swim in without thinking about it. So if I want to normalize an idea, I would absolutely want to push it into every bi5 of culture I can get away with. If I want to normalize gays then I slowly inject that idea in every story told and song would be written about gay life. If I wanted to normalize Buddhism, you’d see a lot of the heroes of your favorite tv series and movies and references the dharma and meditation and quotes from the sutras in your music. Eventually you’ll not notice it so much, but it will affect you.
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