A quick response to Gerald J. Russello

Conservatives, Politics & Culture: A Response to Claes Ryn (Claes Ryn: How Conservatives Failed "The Culture" - Modern Age)

Mr. Russello writes:

If one looks, there are ways to build a vibrant culture for oneself and one's family, but this is predicated on the same false prophecy if individual self-creation that liberalism has preached; it can ever be only a partial solution. What is lacking when Ryn wrote, and even now, are conservatives who can grapple imaginatively with the new technologies and media to develop a true counter-narrative to secular liberalism.

One might argue that the internet has enabled "conservatives" to communicate their ideas to a broad audience. They just need to advertise better. The problem though is that Mr. Russello seems to think in terms of mass culture that accompanies a polity that is too large. It is not clear what Mr. Russello is criticizing with respect to the individual and family -- maybe I need to read more Kirk. The problem, as he seems to be alluding, is that culture is not invented but inherited, but in order to be received one must first be a part of the community, so what is one to do if there is no community? Mass media will not replace community, nor will it really create it since its intended audience is too large and diffuse. What conservatives need to do is to rebuild [family] networks and recover what culture they can within a local community. Some areas may be better equipped to do this than others (e.g. the South). the internet may teach about the importance of culture, but virtual and intentional communities are not enough.



I hope the story of Jonah is not fiction -- he would make a good patron saint for me at the moment, assuming that he changed his attitude and became one of the just ones.