Editing Culture war (section)

===United States===
{{excerpt|Ethnocultural politics in the United States}}
[[File:Christopher Columbus Statue Torn Down at Minnesota State Capitol on June 10, 2020.jpg|thumb|right|Members of the [[American Indian Movement]] toppled a [[Statue of Christopher Columbus (Saint Paul, Minnesota)|statue of Christopher Columbus]] in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on June 10, 2020.]]
====1920s–1991: Origins====
{{expand section|date=December 2021}}
In American usage, ''culture war'' may imply a conflict between those values considered [[Traditionalist conservatism in the United States|traditionalist]] or [[Conservativism in the United States|conservative]] and those considered [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] or [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]]. This usage originated in the 1920s when urban and rural American values came into closer conflict.<ref>{{cite web|date=Fall 2001|title=Seminar on the Culture Wars of the 1920s|url=http://www1.assumption.edu/ahc/1920s/|access-date=October 24, 2021|archive-date=October 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025063441/http://www1.assumption.edu/ahc/1920s/|url-status=live}}</ref> This followed several decades of immigration to the States by people who earlier European immigrants considered 'alien'. It was also a result of the cultural shifts and modernizing trends of the [[Roaring Twenties]], culminating in the presidential campaign of [[Al Smith]] in 1928.<ref>{{cite web|last=Dionne|first=E. J.|author-link=E. J. Dionne|title=Culture Wars: How 2004|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/reclaiming_faith_and_politics.html|access-date=January 30, 2009|archive-date=December 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210160538/http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/reclaiming_faith_and_politics.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In subsequent decades during the 20th century, the term was published occasionally in American newspapers.<ref>{{Cite news|title=What Bismarck could not do (Culture War reference) (1906)|url=http://www.newspapers.com/clip/29457081/what_bismarck_could_not_do_culture_war/|access-date=2019-03-13|newspaper=Washington Palladium|date=December 21, 1906|page=2|language=en|archive-date=August 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818073847/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29457081/what-bismarck-could-not-do-culture-war/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title='Culture War' to be theme of talk (1942)|url=http://www.newspapers.com/clip/29456609/culture_war_to_be_theme_of_talk_1942/|access-date=2019-03-13|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|date=February 18, 1942|page=5|language=en|archive-date=December 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212171946/http://www.newspapers.com/article/oakland-tribune-culture-war-to-be-them/29456609/|url-status=live}}</ref> Historian Matthew Dallek argues the [[John Birch Society]] (JBS) was an early promoter of culture war ideas.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/05/17/1176662608/a-historian-details-how-a-secretive-extremist-group-radicalized-the-american-rig |title=A historian details how a secretive, extremist group radicalized the American right |date=2023-05-17 |last=Gross |first=Terry |type=Radio broadcast |publisher=[[National Public Radio]] |series=Fresh Air}}</ref> Scholar Celestini Carmen traces the JBS's apocalyptic culture war rhetoric through the connections of [[Christian right]] leaders such as [[Tim LaHaye]] and [[Phyllis Schlafly]] to the JBS and their founding of the [[Moral Majority]].<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last1=Celestini |first1=Carmen |title=God, Country, and Christian Conservatives: The National Association of Manufacturers, the John Birch Society, and the Rise of the Christian Right |url=https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/13361/Celestini_Carmen.pdf |date=2018 |publisher=[[University of Waterloo]] |pages=iv, 37, 283, 322–325, 328–334}}</ref>

====1991–2001: Rise in prominence====
[[James Davison Hunter]], a [[sociologist]] at the [[University of Virginia]], introduced the expression again in his 1991 publication, ''[[Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America]]''. Hunter described what he saw as a dramatic realignment and polarization that had transformed [[politics of the United States|American politics]] and [[American culture|culture]]. He argued that on an increasing number of "[[Hot-button issue|hot-button]]" defining issues—[[abortion]], [[gun politics]], [[separation of church and state]], [[privacy]], [[recreational drug use]], [[homosexuality]], [[censorship]]—there existed two definable polarities. Furthermore, not only were there a number of divisive issues, but society had divided along essentially the same lines on these issues, so as to constitute two warring groups, defined primarily not by nominal religion, ethnicity, social class, or even political affiliation, but rather by ideological [[world-view]]s. Hunter characterized this polarity as stemming from opposite impulses, toward what he referred to as ''Progressivism'' and as ''Orthodoxy''. Others have adopted the dichotomy with varying labels. For example, [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], a conservative political commentator and former host of the [[Fox News Channel]] talk show ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'', emphasizes differences between "Secular-Progressives" and "Traditionalists" in his 2006 book ''[[Culture Warrior]]''.<ref>Brian Dakss,
[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-oreillys-culture-warrior/ "Bill O'Reilly's 'Culture Warrior'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213000253/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-oreillys-culture-warrior/ |date=December 13, 2020 }},
''CBS News'',
December 5, 2006.
Retrieved March 27, 2020.</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = O'Reilly
| first = Bill
| author-link = Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)
| title = Culture Warrior
| publisher = [[Broadway Books]]
| location = New York
| date = September 2006
| isbn = 0-7679-2092-9}}</ref>

Historian [[Kristin Kobes Du Mez]] attributes the 1990s emergence of culture wars to the end of the [[Cold War]] in 1991. She writes that [[Evangelical Christians]] viewed a particular Christian masculine [[gender role]] as the only defense of America against the threat of [[communism]]. When this threat ended upon the close of the Cold War, Evangelical leaders transferred the perceived source of threat from foreign communism to domestic changes in gender roles and sexuality.<ref>{{cite news |last=Illing |first=Sean |date=July 9, 2020 |title=Is evangelical support for Trump a contradiction? |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/9/21291493/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-kristin-kobes-du-mez |work=Vox |access-date=July 9, 2020 |archive-date=June 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616155249/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/9/21291493/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-kristin-kobes-du-mez |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Patrickjbuchanan.JPG|thumb|left|180px|Pat Buchanan in 2008]]
During the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 presidential election]], commentator [[Pat Buchanan]] mounted [[Pat Buchanan#1992 presidential primaries|a campaign]] for the [[1992 Republican Party presidential primaries|Republican nomination for president]] against incumbent [[George H. W. Bush]]. In a [[Prime time|prime]]-[[time slot]] at the [[1992 Republican National Convention]], Buchanan gave his speech on the culture war.<ref>{{cite web |quote=Not since Pat Buchanan's famous 'culture war' speech in 1992 has a major speaker at a national political convention spoken so hatefully, at such length, about the opposition. |title=Dogs of War |url=http://www.newdonkey.com/2004/09/dogs-of-war.html |url-status=usurped |publisher=New Donkey |date=September 2, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308043424/http://www.newdonkey.com/2004/09/dogs-of-war.html |archive-date=March 8, 2005 |access-date=August 29, 2006}}</ref> He argued: "There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself."<ref name="1992-GOP">{{Cite speech |author-link=Patrick Buchanan |first=Patrick |last=Buchanan |title=1992 Republican National Convention Speech |date=August 17, 1992 |url=http://buchanan.org/blog/1992-republican-national-convention-speech-148 |access-date=November 3, 2014 |archive-date=December 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208185713/https://buchanan.org/blog/1992-republican-national-convention-speech-148 |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition to criticizing [[Environmental movement in the United States|environmentalists]] and [[Feminism in the United States|feminism]], he portrayed [[public morality]] as a [[defining issue]]:

<blockquote>The agenda [Bill] Clinton and [Hillary] Clinton would impose on America—abortion on demand, a [[Litmus test (politics)|litmus test]] for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat units—that's change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can abide in a nation that we still call God's country.<ref name="1992-GOP" />
</blockquote>

A month later, Buchanan characterized the conflict as about power over society's definition of right and wrong. He named abortion, sexual orientation and popular culture as major fronts—and mentioned other controversies, including clashes over the [[Confederate flag]], Christmas, and taxpayer-funded art. He also said that the negative attention his "culture war" speech received was itself evidence of America's polarization.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://buchanan.org/blog/the-cultural-war-for-the-soul-of-america-149 |title=The Cultural War for the Soul of America |last=Buchanan |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Buchanan |access-date=March 6, 2015 |archive-date=March 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317033220/http://buchanan.org/blog/the-cultural-war-for-the-soul-of-america-149 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The culture war had significant impact on national politics in the 1990s.<ref name="Andrew Hartman 2015">Andrew Hartman, ''A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars'' (University of Chicago Press, 2015)</ref> The rhetoric of the [[Christian Coalition of America]] may have weakened president George H. W. Bush's chances for re-election in 1992 and helped his successor, [[Bill Clinton]], win reelection in 1996.<ref name="Chávez 2010">{{cite book |last=Chávez |first=Karma R. |editor-last=Chapman |editor-first=Roger |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices, Volume 1 |date=2010 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=Armonk, N.Y. |isbn=978-0-7656-1761-3 |page=88 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/culturewarsencyc0000unse/page/88/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=Christian Coalition}}</ref> On the other hand, the rhetoric of conservative cultural warriors helped Republicans gain control of Congress in 1994.<ref name="Benedic 2010">{{cite book |last1=Benedic |first1=Diane |last2=Rising |first2=George |editor-last=Chapman |editor-first=Roger |title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices, Volume 1 |date=2010 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=Armonk, N.Y. |isbn=978-0-7656-1761-3 |page=136 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/culturewarsencyc0000unse/page/136/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter=Democratic Party}}</ref> The culture wars influenced the debate over [[State school|state-school]] history [[Curriculum|curricula]] in the United States in the 1990s. In particular, debates over the development of [[Standards-based education reform in the United States|national educational standards]] in 1994 revolved around whether the study of American history should be a "celebratory" or "critical" undertaking and involved such prominent public figures as [[Lynne Cheney]], [[Rush Limbaugh]], and historian [[Gary Nash]].<ref>{{google book |title=Who Owns History: Rethinking the Past in a Changing World |last=Foner |first=Eric |id=H3I-Z8KW5REC |location=New York |publisher=Hill & Wang |year=2002 |isbn=1-4299-2392-X}}</ref><ref>{{google book |title=History on Trial: Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past |last1=Nash |first1=Gary B. |authorlink1=Gary B. Nash |last2=Crabtree |first2=Charlotte A. |last3=Dunn |first3=Ross E. |authorlink=Ross E. Dunn |id=iE1DzmHrh9EC |location=New York |publisher=Knopf |year=1997 |isbn=0-679-76750-9}}</ref>

====2001–2012: Post-9/11 era====
[[File:Bush War Budget 2003-crop.jpg|thumb|(from right to left) 43rd President [[George W. Bush]], [[Donald Rumsfeld]], and [[Paul Wolfowitz]] were prominent neoconservatives of the 2000s.]]
A political view called [[neoconservatism]] shifted the terms of the debate in the early 2000s. Neoconservatives differed from their opponents in that they interpreted problems facing the nation as [[moral issues]] rather than economic or political ones. For example, neoconservatives saw the decline of the traditional [[Family structure in the United States|family structure]] as well as the decline of religion in American society as [[Spiritual crisis|spiritual crises]] that required a spiritual response. Critics accused neoconservatives of [[Correlation does not imply causation|confusing cause and effect]].<ref>Zafirovski, Milan.  [https://books.google.com/books?id=UEl91MbLiO0C&pg=PA60 "Modern Free Society and Its Nemesis: Liberty Versus Conservatism in the New Millennium "] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212171945/https://books.google.com/books?id=UEl91MbLiO0C&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=December 12, 2023 }} ''Google Books''.  6 September 2018.</ref>

During the 2000s, voting for Republicans began to correlate heavily with [[Traditionalist conservatism|traditionalist]] or [[Orthodoxy|orthodox]] religious belief across diverse religious sects. Voting for Democrats became more correlated with [[Religious liberalism|liberal]] or [[Modernism in the Catholic Church|modernist]] religious belief, and with being [[nonreligious]].<ref name="Dionne2006">Dionne, E.J., Jr. 
 [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/01/why-the-culture-war-is-the-wrong-war/304502/ "Why the Culture War Is the Wrong War."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213000333/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/01/why-the-culture-war-is-the-wrong-war/304502/ |date=December 13, 2020 }} ''The Atlantic''.  January/February 2006.  29 April 2019.</ref> [[Scientism|Belief in scientific]] conclusions, such as [[Climate change in the United States|climate change]], also became tightly coupled with political party affiliation in this era, causing climate scholar [[Andrew Hoffman]] to observe that [[Climate change in the United States|climate change]] had "become enmeshed in the so-called [[Global warming controversy|culture wars]]."<ref name="Hoffman2012"/>

[[File:Fresno - Prop 8 Rally.jpg|thumb|Rally for [[Proposition 8]], an item on the 2008 California ballot to ban same-sex marriage]]
Topics traditionally associated with culture war were not prominent in media coverage of the [[2008 United States elections|2008 election]] season, with the exception of coverage of vice-presidential candidate [[Sarah Palin]],<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=November 20, 2008 |title=How the News Media Covered Religion in the 2008 General Election: Sarah Palin and the "Culture Wars" |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/legacy/Religion_gen_election_FINAL-11-20_0.pdf |publisher=Pew Research |pages=8, 11–12 |access-date=May 23, 2020 |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022094123/https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/legacy/Religion_gen_election_FINAL-11-20_0.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> who drew attention to her conservative religion and created a performative [[climate change denialism]] brand for herself.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hatzisavvidou |first1=Sophia |date=September 17, 2019 |title='The climate has always been changing': Sarah Palin, climate change denialism, and American conservatism |journal=Celebrity Studies |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=371–388 |doi=10.1080/19392397.2019.1667251 |s2cid=204377874 |url=https://purehost.bath.ac.uk/ws/files/198548337/The_Climate_Has_Always_Been_Changing_with_author_details.pdf |access-date=January 24, 2023 |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306084450/https://purehost.bath.ac.uk/ws/files/198548337/The_Climate_Has_Always_Been_Changing_with_author_details.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Palin's defeat in the election and subsequent resignation as governor of Alaska caused the [[Center for American Progress]] to predict "the coming end of the culture wars," which they attributed to demographic change, particularly high rates of acceptance of [[same-sex marriage]] among [[millennials]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/democracy/reports/2009/07/15/6454/the-coming-end-of-the-culture-wars/ |title=The Coming End of the Culture Wars |last=Teixeira |first=Ruy |date=July 15, 2009 |website=Center for American Progress |access-date=May 23, 2020 |archive-date=December 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209141022/https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/democracy/reports/2009/07/15/6454/the-coming-end-of-the-culture-wars/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

====2012–present: Broadening of the culture war====
{{See also|List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests|List of changes made due to the George Floyd protests|List of name changes due to the George Floyd protests}}
[[File:JEB Stuart Monument 2020-05-31.jpg|thumb|The [[J. E. B. Stuart Monument]], defaced during [[George Floyd protests in Richmond, Virginia|protests in Richmond, Virginia]], was removed on July 7, 2020.]]
In the early 2010s, the [[American right]] took issue with the perceived worldwide dominance of leftism in international politics and corporate activity, [[anti-nationalism]], and secular [[human rights]] policies and activism not based on [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic religious]] worldviews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bob |first=Clifford |title=The Global Right Wing and the Clash of World Politics |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-521-19381-8 |location=New York |pages=i}}</ref> 

While traditional culture war issues, like abortion, continue to be a focal point,<ref>Smith, Karl.  [https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-05-21/abortion-debate-it-s-different-from-other-culture-wars "The Abortion Debate Is Not Part of the Culture Wars."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720175834/https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-05-21/abortion-debate-it-s-different-from-other-culture-wars |date=July 20, 2019 }} ''Bloomberg''.</ref> the issues identified with the culture war broadened and intensified in the mid-late 2010s. [[Jonathan Haidt]], author of ''[[The Coddling of the American Mind]]'', identified a rise in [[cancel culture]] via [[social media]] among young progressives since 2012, which he believes had "transformative effects on university life and later on politics and culture throughout the English-speaking world," in what Haidt<ref>{{cite news |last1=Haidt |first1=Jonathan |title=Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/ |work=The Atlantic |date=11 April 2022 |language=en |access-date=2022-08-29 |archive-date=April 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410164044/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and other commentators<ref name="Mirzaei 2019">{{Cite web |url=http://theconversation.com/where-woke-came-from-and-why-marketers-should-think-twice-before-jumping-on-the-social-activism-bandwagon-122713 |title=Where 'woke' came from and why marketers should think twice before jumping on the social activism bandwagon |first=Abas |last=Mirzaei |website=The Conversation |date=September 8, 2019 |access-date=April 10, 2023 |archive-date=March 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320231919/https://theconversation.com/where-woke-came-from-and-why-marketers-should-think-twice-before-jumping-on-the-social-activism-bandwagon-122713 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Yglesias |first=Matthew |title=How Hillary Clinton unleashed the Great Awokening |url=https://www.slowboring.com/p/how-hillary-clinton-unleashed-the |access-date=2023-01-06 |website=www.slowboring.com |language=en |archive-date=March 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328160348/https://www.slowboring.com/p/how-hillary-clinton-unleashed-the |url-status=live }}</ref> have called the "[[Great Awokening]]". Journalist [[Michael Grunwald]] says that "President [[Donald Trump]] has pioneered a new politics of perpetual culture war" and lists [[Black Lives Matter]], [[U.S. national anthem protests]], [[climate change]], education policy, healthcare policy including [[Obamacare]], and infrastructure policy as culture war issues in 2018.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grunwald |first=Michael |date=November 2018 |title=How Everything Became the Culture War |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/02/culture-war-liberals-conservatives-trump-2018-222095 |magazine=Politico |access-date=May 24, 2020 |archive-date=May 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524050840/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/02/culture-war-liberals-conservatives-trump-2018-222095 |url-status=live }}</ref> The rights of [[transgender]] people and the role of religion in lawmaking were identified as "new fronts in the culture war" by political scientist Jeremiah Castle, as the polarization of public opinion on these two topics resembles that of previous culture war issues.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Castle |first1=Jeremiah |date=December 14, 2018 |title=New Fronts in the Culture Wars? Religion, Partisanship, and Polarization on Religious Liberty and Transgender Rights in the United States |journal=American Politics Research |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=650–679 |doi=10.1177/1532673X18818169|s2cid=220207260 }}</ref> In 2020, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], North Dakota governor [[Doug Burgum]] described [[Face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States#Attitudes|opposition to wearing face masks]] as a "senseless" culture war issue that jeopardizes human safety.<ref>{{cite news |last=Blake |first=Aaron |date=May 23, 2020 |title=GOP governor offers emotional plea to the anti-mask crowd: Stop this senseless culture war |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/23/doug-burgum-masks/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=May 24, 2020 |archive-date=May 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524005046/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/23/doug-burgum-masks/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{Multiple image
| total_width       = 350
| image1            = Anti-abortion protest, 1986.jpg
| image2            = Drag Queen Story Hour Protest - 52452239331.png
| perrow            = 2/2/2
| image3            = Save our children hashtag (cropped) (cropped).png
| image4            = Chaya Raichik and MTG.jpg
| footer            = Clockwise from top left: [[anti-abortion movements|anti-abortion]] protesters in 1986; members of [[the Proud Boys]] protest a [[drag queen]] story hour; Representative [[Marjorie Taylor Greene]] of Georgia and [[Libs of TikTok]] creator [[Chaya Raichik]] hold up an anti-transgender sign; "Save Our Children" graffiti near downtown [[Lufkin, Texas]] in relation to the [[LGBT grooming conspiracy theory]].
}}

This broader understanding of culture war issues in the mid-late 2010s and 2020s is associated with a political strategy called "[[owning the libs]]." Conservative media figures employing this strategy emphasize and expand upon culture war issues with the goal of upsetting liberals. According to [[Nicole Hemmer]] of Columbia University, this strategy is a substitute for the cohesive conservative ideology that existed during the [[Cold War]]. It holds a conservative [[voting bloc]] together in the absence of shared policy preferences among the bloc's members.<ref>{{cite news |last=Peters |first=Jeremy W. |date=August 3, 2020 |title=These Conservatives Have a Laser Focus: 'Owning the Libs' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/politics/the-federalist-trump-liberals.html |work=New York Times |access-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803161740/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/politics/the-federalist-trump-liberals.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Charlottesville 'Unite the Right' Rally (35780274914) crop.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|The [[Unite the Right rally]] in [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]], Virginia, in August 2017, an alt-right event regarded as a battle of the culture wars<ref>{{cite journal |last=Buffington |first=Melanie L. |date=January 1, 2017 |title=Contemporary Culture Wars: Challenging the Legacy of the Confederacy |url=https://jcrae.art.arizona.edu/index.php/jcrae/article/view/74 |journal=Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education |volume=34 |pages=45–59 |doi=10.2458/jcrae.4883 |s2cid=148760859 |issn=2152-7172 |access-date=May 24, 2020 |doi-access=free |archive-date=July 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729022613/https://jcrae.art.arizona.edu/index.php/jcrae/article/view/74 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

A number of conflicts about diversity in popular culture occurring in the 2010s, such as the [[Gamergate controversy]], [[Comicsgate]] and the [[Sad Puppies]] science fiction voting campaign, were identified in the media as being examples of the culture war.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hurley |first=Kameron |author-link=Kameron Hurley |date=April 9, 2015 |title=Hijacking the Hugo Awards Won't Stifle Diversity in Science Fiction |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/04/the-culture-wars-come-to-sci-fi/390012/ |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=May 23, 2020 |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205115606/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/04/the-culture-wars-come-to-sci-fi/390012/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Journalist [[Caitlin Dewey]] described Gamergate as a "[[proxy war]]" for a larger culture war between those who want greater inclusion of women and minorities in cultural institutions versus anti-feminists and traditionalists who do not.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dewey |first=Caitlin |date=October 14, 2014 |title=The only guide to Gamergate you will ever need to read |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=May 23, 2020 |archive-date=June 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611104007/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The perception that culture war conflict had been demoted from electoral politics to popular culture led writer Jack Meserve to call popular movies, games, and writing the "last front in the culture war" in 2015.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meserve |first1=Jack |date=Spring 2015 |title=Last Front in the Culture War |url=https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/36/last-front-in-the-culture-war/ |journal=Democracy: A Journal of Ideas |issue=36 |access-date=May 23, 2020 |archive-date=August 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817142610/https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/36/last-front-in-the-culture-war/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

These conflicts about representation in popular culture re-emerged into electoral politics via the [[alt-right]] and [[alt-lite]] movements.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nagle |first=Angela |author-link=Angela Nagle |date=June 30, 2017 |title=Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right |publisher=Zero Books |isbn=9781785355431}}</ref> According to media scholar Whitney Phillips, Gamergate "prototyped" strategies of harassment and controversy-stoking that proved useful in political strategy. For example, Republican political strategist [[Steve Bannon]] publicized pop-culture conflicts during the 2016 presidential campaign of [[Donald Trump]], encouraging a young audience to "come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump."<ref>{{cite news |last=Warzel |first=Charlie |date=August 15, 2019 |title=How an Online Mob Created a Playbook for a Culture War |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/15/opinion/what-is-gamergate.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 24, 2020 |archive-date=July 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702142826/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/15/opinion/what-is-gamergate.html |url-status=live }}</ref>