You don’t win a culture war by fighting a culture war.
Part of the entire point of a culture war in the first place is to distract you from things you’d rather be doing. It’s a way to demoralize you into believing that joining in on the conflict is the only responsible thing to do.
Culture wars have a way of shifting your perception around your hobbies. At a certain point, you start to believe that every second spent enjoying your hobby is a second that could instead be spent crusading for a political cause.
Even many of those who claim to fight against political incursions into their hobbies end up falling into a trap of focusing their efforts on the conflict. Being aware of the harmful elements of a paradigm, in this case, a culture war, is not the same as being immune to them. The social and psychological elements at work are very subtle. It takes a keen sense and deep knowledge of social dynamics to recognize what’s actually going on.
Most people are in danger of falling into a trap if they involve themselves too deeply in things that are designed to trap them, and culture wars are a prime example.
We discussed before how fandom isn’t just a passive thing we “do” without thinking much about it. It’s necessary that we approach our subculture with discipline, because the temptation to focus on the negative is very real and does real damage.
Every piece of news starts to look like a three-alarm fire. And it’s not helped by those whose claim to relevance is being a culture warrior.
Perhaps the most insidious thing about fighting the culture war, however, is that it prevents and discourages people from doing the exact thing that most helps win a culture war.
Creating.
You don’t fight a culture war by arguing on Twitter. You fight a culture war with culture. People forgot that. Some have forgot that so deeply that arguing has become their culture.
Make what you’re doing look fun. A culture war can’t stop you if what you’re doing is so attractive that people flock to it. Realize that most people are not invested in the culture war. They just gravitate toward whatever elements of culture are most attractive to them. If your culture is battling on Twitter, that’s not attractive to anybody.
It’s a strange game. The only winning move is not to play. Build and cultivate the most attractive culture, with the most enthusiastic participants and the most charismatic cultural ambassadors. That’s how culture wars are won.