Actually, it's not that uncommon, but I just have to point you to
Steve Gilliard's Blog entry on Amy Sullivan's
despicable post about how liberals all so patronizing about cultural issues, and that "red America" folks really care about this stuff.
He gets the basics of the argument:
Is there a policy which can prevent those nasty things you don't like and not have censorship?
No.
He gets the subtext:
Oh, yeah, let's get to the "cultural elites".
Now, Big Media Matt was too kind to mention this, suprisingly so, since he's half-Jewish, but whenever I hear that phrase, I just insert the word Jew. It saves time and money.
(more below fold)
Why not say what you mean: the Hollywood Jews are ruining this country. At least you don't go as far as Bill Donoghue and accuse them of loving anal sex, but the whiff of the bonfire and the brownshirt still eminates from your words. The elitism comes from the Dan Gerstein article, which cleverly suggests that women in "exburbs" haven't heard of threesomes. As if swingers were some unknown thing and the internet didn't reach them. The arrogance here is just amazing.
However, what does shine through is the often coded anti-semitic words like "cultural elite" and "Hollywood". When they talk about "Hollywood's" influence on the media, what they really mean are those dirty Jews are polluting our Christian culture again. Because it's the same argument used from the days of Father Coughlin. Back then, the studios hopped to their tune to keep the cultural brownshirts away.
BTW, here is the question for those folks claim that it's "culture":
Because this isn't a discussion about culture. Because if it was, we'd be asking why country music lionizes adultery and revenge, why NASCAR fans seem to enjoy crashes, why high school kids are shoved into basketball. Instead we talk about video games, which are marketed and sold to adults, music which hasa shelf life of a few weeks, and movies which cycle in and out of theaters every few weeks, then cable. But this, not a culture which keeps adults at work longer and pays them less is the issue.
The idea of a "cultural elite" isn't real. The video game industry is nothing like the decentralized film industry and the highly centralized TV industry.
...
Our flawed culture comes not from entertainment, but from economics. A culture where parents work 10 hour days, where children come home to empty houses as young as six years old. Where after school programs are rare and part time jobs so consuming that kids fall asleep in class. Which you admit. But this whole argument is like trying to outseg the segregationists. Our core principles, like a belief in free speech makes this a self-defeating argument.
What you also neglect to mention is the explosion in alternative media, like the Left Behind books. People who want to have entertainment which meets their standards can walk into any Wal Mart and get what they need.
This patronizing idea promoted by Gerstein and amplified by you is ridiculous. People who care deeply about this stuff will not vote Democratic because we will never go far enough. [Emphasis mine]
I made the point for a while.
Society is cheapened by cheapness, by focus on money, profit, etc.
It's taking all our lives away.