Not Here, Not Now, Not That! by Steven J. Tepper

Author:Steven J. Tepper [Tepper, Steven J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology, Political Science, Censorship, Art
ISBN: 9780226792880
Google: sihbUd29_iQC
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2011-06-15T02:39:31+00:00

Web of Connections

Theories about the culture wars suggest that there is a web of concerns connecting what might appear on the surface to be unrelated issues, including arts and culture, education reform, abortion, gay rights, and popular entertainment (Hunter 1991). After Pat Buchanan announced at the 1992 Republic National Convention that America was in the midst of a culture war, journalists and activists alike have been quick to group together a diverse array of social and cultural conflicts as evidence of Buchanan’s claim. As Hunter describes it, the issues motivating activists in the culture wars are rooted in differing worldviews—fundamentalism and orthodoxy versus secularism and relativism. Cities of contention stand out from other kinds of cities in the extent to which activists link conflicts to larger issues facing the nation or their communities.

Many protesters linked arts conflicts to a “gay agenda” that stood in opposition to American “family values.” Others more broadly claimed that the “wrong” culture has the power to undermine American life. Charlotte’s Rev. Joseph Chambers, a stalwart opponent of Angels in America, said that the play is part of a larger group of events that “should be an example to all traditional Americans of what the radical gay community and those who support them intend for this nation.” He added, “This drama is not about art or eight seconds of nudity. It is about the destruction of moral consciousness” (Chambers 1996). Harry Reeder, a local Charlotte minister, wrote an opinion editorial claiming that the arts community promoted “an aggressive cultural agenda that is absolutely committed to the total reconstruction of our culture” (Reeder 1997). In Denver a teacher who was fired for showing an R-rated film to high school students—Bertolucci’s 1900—linked the disciplinary action to “an anxious community worried about seemingly out-of-control children, low academic scores, increasing banality of popular culture as seen on the Springer show, and as seen in the media” (Simpson 1998).

In addition to concerns about the “gay agenda” and general moral decay, several conflicts were linked to fears of secular humanism creeping into the classroom. In Fort Worth the attack against the book The Last Mission was made from the same group (PAGE) that also opposed critical thinking, cooperative learning, multiculturalism, and whole language learning. The battle over The Last Mission, which contains profanity, became an opportunity to oppose educational materials and teaching styles understood as undermining traditional education. As noted above, members of PAGE linked the book controversy to notions of “critical thinking,” dangerous ideas of “liberating children” from their parents, and the broader influence of “communism.” The conflicts over books in Forth Worth also revealed the fear that national outsiders, for example, “liberals” representing the federal government, were trying to impose their values on local schools. In one exchange when a school board member defended the selection of library books—including The Last Mission—by pointing out the professional training of school officials, parents erupted with boos and jeers, dismissing the judgment of national experts. In Dallas parents objected to the school board’s

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