On one hand, boomer-age cultured (i.e., liberally-educated) conservatives who don’t know contemporary pop culture and are too lazy about learning anything about it; on the other, young liberals who know it but are unashamedly un-cultured (i.e., rejecting the canonical distinctions that genuine liberal education depends upon) in the older sense of the term.
That’s the lamentable pairing the cultured-in-both-ways Mark Judge lays out for us at Acculturated . The unashamed ignore-all-canons ignoramus is Ta-Nehesi Coates of The Atlantic . The pop-culture subject is rap, stemming from Mark Steyn’s, Mona Charen’s, and Jay Nordlinger’s seeming dismissal of it, and from a solid Conor Friedersdorf post criticizing them, and conservatives in general, for being too lazy to do real critical work on rap or other pop culture forms. Go to Judge to see his juxtaposition of these two Atlantic posts, and the respective links—the Friedersdorf piece, BTW, has an extensive thread with lots of real gems hidden amid the usual.
I also feel obliged to note that in the relevant exchange Nordlinger doesn’t exactly get to complete his thoughts.
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P.S. Mr. Judge, lament away about conservatives not making art nor real critical efforts to engage with it, by all means.
But would it be too cheeky for us here at Postmodern Conservative to complain to the writers at Acculturated, and to any and all the conservatives lamenting these days about conservatives not engaging with the culture, about the lack of linkage we get? There’s Peter’s TV and film posts, similar items from our “3 Js,” and then there’s the 70 or so Carl’s Rock Songbook essays by yours truly. That is, if conservatives really mean to call for culture in both aspects, then I think we here at pomocon are providing it . . . but speaking personally, I think we need a little more encouragement, engagement, what-have-you. Surely we could be doing more to publicize web-wise, but conservative bloggers and writers, it’s your job also.
P.P.S. Yes readers, I’ve taken a month or so break from the Songbook . . . been getting settled in a new place, but never fear . . . as Jack Teagarden said to Frankie Traumbauer:
Jus’ gettin’ ready, Frank, jus’ gettin’ ready!
