Conservatives Must Win the Culture War Through Entertaining Storytelling, Not Political Sermons
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Conservatives Should Begin Eating Woke Culture for Breakfast | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." August 17, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that conservatives have lost the 'culture war' because progressives took over movies, books, and universities long ago through subtle storytelling rather than open political arguments. He says conservatives should stop just complaining about 'woke' content and instead start making genuinely entertaining movies and books that quietly reflect conservative values, using recent hits like The Brink of War as models for success.
Conclusion
Conservatives should stop merely critiquing progressive culture and instead actively create high-quality, entertaining movies, books, and stories that subtly convey conservative values—winning the culture war the way the left originally did.
Premises
- Institutional culture (in media, universities, publishing, and entertainment) has been captured by progressive/leftist influence over the course of a century, starting with Soviet-era Comintern influence operations and continuing through Hollywood, academia, and publishing.
- Historical examples like Spartacus show that the left succeeded in shifting culture not through overt political sermons but through subtle, entertaining storytelling that shaped audience sympathies over time.
- Contemporary progressive media (movies, books) increasingly fails commercially because it prioritizes political messaging over entertainment value, alienating audiences.
- Publishing houses (e.g., Simon & Schuster) and much of the 'independent' publishing world remain ideologically captured, rejecting conservative-leaning authors and even promoting extreme content while claiming market forces are to blame for declining readership.
- Early conservative attempts at counter-programming failed because they were poorly produced and overly didactic ('tea cozy' filmmaking, sermonizing novels).
- Recent successful examples (e.g., Angel Studios' The Brink of War, W. H. Crocker's Kruger's Korps) demonstrate that entertaining, well-crafted conservative storytelling can succeed by leading with narrative quality rather than political messaging.
- Therefore, conservatives now have a strategic opening to reclaim cultural influence by emulating the left's original method: embedding values within compelling stories rather than didactic sermonizing.
Assumptions
- Cultural influence primarily flows through entertainment media rather than direct political or intellectual argument.
- Audiences absorb ideological messages more readily when unaware they are being persuaded (i.e., subliminal influence is more effective than overt argument).
- Progressive control of key cultural institutions is a coordinated, historically continuous project rather than an emergent, decentralized phenomenon.
- Market failures of 'woke' media are primarily due to ideological overreach rather than other factors (economic conditions, changing consumption habits, competition).
- Conservative values can be effectively conveyed through entertainment without becoming overtly political, implying they are compatible with a wide audience if presented skillfully.
- The left's cultural success historically stemmed mainly from covert ideological storytelling rather than broader socio-political factors.