Ideas | The Right wins the battle for hearts and minds

I asked Anya Schiffrin, director of the technology, media and communications program at Columbia University’s School of Public and International Affairs, about the difference between ‘the conservative and liberal communication system. Schiffrin wrote in an email:

It’s amazing how right-wing ideas dominate discourse in many parts of the world. They managed to sway voters by focusing on anxieties about crime, immigration and inflation. In the last two years, we have heard stories of immigrant crime in Santiago, Stockholm, Melbourne, and New York.

For decades, Schiffrin continued,

Republicans have done an excellent job of getting their message out through right wing radio networks as well as tabloids and Fox TV and now through social media. Many on the left suffered from this and wondered if they should create another media infrastructure

However, part of what made the Republicans so successful was the message, not the moderator. Republicans keep their message simple and focus on important topics. Explaining the change in crime statistics and telling people not to worry about crime is not convincing when people go to CVS every day and find that all the toothpaste and aspirin are closed or feel threatened on the street or subway.

A key part of the conservative agenda, Schiffrin writes, is what he calls “scene capture”:

The tech titans want to avoid regulation and taxes, and many have libertarian leanings, so it’s natural for them to work with Donald Trump. AI sectors and companies are counting on the US to suspend global regulations. Indeed, while Zuckerberg recently said he would dismantle fact-checking efforts, he also said there was a need to scrap European regulations. The Trump and Zuckerberg-Musk alliance makes sense for all of them right now.

While one major element of the conservative movement to set the cultural agenda is to control the media — the web, podcasts, messaging systems — another goal is to discredit and push liberal movements and demand.

On this score, Christopher Rufo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of “The American Cultural Revolution,” almost forced liberals to back down on many issues.

Rufo can claim credit (or blame) for the corporate and academic retreat from critical race theory; diversity, equity and inclusion (better known as DEI); and the environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities of corporate investments.

Two days ago, Rufo bragged to X about the rising status of rights in the nation’s culture:

For the past four years, the Left has tried to castigate us as cowards, extremists, extremists and worse. But the truth is that we are common, reasonable, popular, and superior. We will no longer allow Cluster B leftists to destroy our institutions. If this is the case for you, try therapy.

In a more obvious but no less serious development, two Wall Street Journal reporters, Aaron Zitner and Meridith McGraw, described in an article on January 19 that “in sports, entertainment and shopping, showing conservatism undermines progressive behavior.”

“Instead of kneeling to call for social justice,” write Zitner and McGraw,

NFL players do the “Trump dance” in the end zone at football games. Singer Carrie Underwood and rapper Snoop Dogg have agreed to perform at an event celebrating Donald Trump’s inauguration, including rapper Snoop Dogg, who the music star turned down eight years ago.

A new generation of comedians and Trump health advocates are flooding YouTube and other social media, while a clip featuring Barron and Melania Trump has become one of the hottest memes online. , with celebrities like Paris Hilton and brands including Frontier Airlines. , using it in his TikTok and Instagram posts.

“Every time I walk around campus I see a few MAGA hats. It’s really new,” said Carson Carpenter, 19, a senior at Arizona State University. Conservatism, he says, ‘has really become intertwined with our pop culture. … It really shows how cool conservatism is today.”

On the other hand, Zitner and McGraw wrote,

The company is replicating a diversity effort that became urgent after the killing of George Floyd by police in 2020 led to a focus on racial inequality. Universities are complying with the Supreme Court’s ban on considering race in admissions, and programs designed to help minority students are under legal attack, amid allegations they discriminate against them because the race. In some Republican-led states, officials feel more empowered to force Christian-themed curriculum into classrooms.

Conservatives have long complained that free speech has been censored on social media. This month Meta Platforms announced the end of fact-checking and restrictions on certain types of speech across Facebook and Instagram.

While the right was there and the attack continues, the left is on the defensive.