Recently, I seem to be writing more about the fact that this is a country of two different narratives, and about the associated culture wars, than about fiction.
In brief, one narrative has it that as diversity increases, in large part due to continuing, significant, non-white immigration, the country is going to change significantly, and for the better as more voices are heard and new populations acquire power, money and command of culture.
The other narrative is that America is great because it is, in effect, the culmination of European culture that traces its values and intellectual notions to ancient Greece and Rome. Certain numbers of non-white, non-Europeans are welcome, but they should accept and adapt to the long-standing white culture and political power.
One can argue there is nothing new about this. But two things have driven it to the forefront in recent years; the Obama presidency that seemed to signal diversity was winning out, and the Trump blow-back with its demolition of political correctness.
I've been trying to cherry pick news that illustrates the nature of the culture wars, and here is the latest -- an opinion piece in The Washington Post by a professor in the humanities department of Reed College, in Oregon.
Reed College: I can see readers shaking their heads. OK, Reed has always been something of an outlier, unrepresentative of mainstream academia. But the piece is still interesting.
The author, Lucía Martínez Valdivia, who identifies herself as a gay, mixed-race women, says she and her colleagues are accused of being white supremacists because they continue to teach, among other things, Aristotle and Plato. Well, these men are two of the most important foundations of America's traditional culture and they are both white males.
"Absolutist postures and the binary reign supreme. You are pro- or anti-, radical or fascist, angel or demon. Even small differences of opinion are seized on and characterized as moral and intellectual failures, unacceptable thought crimes that cancel out anything else you might say," Ms Valdivia reports.
Reed may represent an extreme case, as it has with respect to one thing or another in the past, but this is nonetheless where America increasingly lies today.
If you want to read more about what I have had to say on these matters, search my blog for "culture wars."
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