Recently in chat groups formed for various other reasons, the discussion turns political, and this prompts some to leave, and some to say, lets just have our discussions without politics.

Why?

Politics, at least recently has become divisive and polarizing, splitting friends and families, setting up epic battles between the "left" and the "right". A lot of people have checked out, they don't want the conflict, and know that endless battles on the internet are not a value add to their lives.

OK, fair enough, but maybe there is a cost to leaving that space, and not engaging. Or at least not reading it and understanding the many different sides.

One reason I pay attention comes from what Andrew Breitbart famously said, that "Politics is downstream of culture". How is this true? Can you predict where politics is headed based on what Hollywood is doing? I would have scoffed at that earlier, thinking these are two different worlds, but as we see more and more performative politicians, both left and right, and we also see more and more political themes woven through films that are popular, perhaps you can tell the direction of society base on what's making money in Hollywood.

As Hollywood leans heavily left, you can only guess why such themes as catastrophic climate change, everyone has to be anti-racist, and third wave feminism as an example of some that seem to be a majority view in society. Also we see a lot of pro war messages too, like Top Gun, Battleship, Midway, and 1917.

Back in 2011, Breitbart had a very good article explaining why this concept is relevant to us Nomads, as it highlight what direction your culture is going.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2011/08/22/politics-really-is-downstream-from-culture/

Want some third wave feminism topped up by huge war machine spending? Seems that is our current direction. As the article says, knowing what the "moral of the story" is and figuring out if you are aligned with the messaging can also help when you discuss this with friends and family.

Like the Barbie movie... how many saw this and said it was just a funny take on Barbie? Well, laced in there was a third wave feminist message that women can only be happy when men are put down, and likewise, men are only happy with women are put down. It sets up the message that women are not equal to men, they are far better. Do you agree with that? Or do you think that is not the message of this movie?

My conclusion is that we cannot avoid the political discussions, and while I am not always engaging with them, I am taking the temperature, checking for clues and adapting my plan to suit.

PS. note in the article from 2011, it mentions that the left are kinda anti-government.... boy, did that turn around!