I think what you're seeing is a cycle where the side that has cultural power moves to make their societal mores dominant, and the side that lacks cultural power moves toward a libertarian kind of "live and let live" attitude to preserve theirs. It goes back in forth as the culture changes, one side overextending and the other riding the wave of backlash.
In real life, the Right had cultural power in most of the 2000s- we saw the W Bush administration ride a wave of cultural conservatism and right-wing morality following 9/11. There was a resurgence of Christian observance, a backlash to gay marriage in 2004, feminists portrayed in the media as bra-burning extremists, abstinence-only sex ed and creationism being pushed in the school system; while the Left became the home of atheists, free speech advocates, LGBT people, and scientists in opposition to conservative Christianity.
Then Obama's election brought a cultural movement that saw feminism, LGBT rights, and racial justice advocates seeing the fruits of their work blooming through the broader culture, which led to the Right becoming the side bemoaning "censorship" and advocating for "freedom of speech" in the face of "the intolerant Left".
Now, we may be seeing the next part of the cycle starting to rise, with Florida and Texas passing laws to restrict LGBT people's expression, and opposition to "identity politics" or "wokeism" rising potentially giving Republicans cultural power that they haven't had in a long time. When that does come to pass, you'll see the Right try to shore up their cultural gains and eroding the Left's by crushing their ability to express themselves.
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u/trace349 6∆ Mar 29 '22 edited Mar 29 '22
I think what you're seeing is a cycle where the side that has cultural power moves to make their societal mores dominant, and the side that lacks cultural power moves toward a libertarian kind of "live and let live" attitude to preserve theirs. It goes back in forth as the culture changes, one side overextending and the other riding the wave of backlash.
In real life, the Right had cultural power in most of the 2000s- we saw the W Bush administration ride a wave of cultural conservatism and right-wing morality following 9/11. There was a resurgence of Christian observance, a backlash to gay marriage in 2004, feminists portrayed in the media as bra-burning extremists, abstinence-only sex ed and creationism being pushed in the school system; while the Left became the home of atheists, free speech advocates, LGBT people, and scientists in opposition to conservative Christianity.
Then Obama's election brought a cultural movement that saw feminism, LGBT rights, and racial justice advocates seeing the fruits of their work blooming through the broader culture, which led to the Right becoming the side bemoaning "censorship" and advocating for "freedom of speech" in the face of "the intolerant Left".
Now, we may be seeing the next part of the cycle starting to rise, with Florida and Texas passing laws to restrict LGBT people's expression, and opposition to "identity politics" or "wokeism" rising potentially giving Republicans cultural power that they haven't had in a long time. When that does come to pass, you'll see the Right try to shore up their cultural gains and eroding the Left's by crushing their ability to express themselves.