Politics in Culture
Democracy, communism, socialism, totalitarianism.
The politics of a nation shape its values and are shaped by them.
The cycle is continuous and feeds itself: culture feeds politics, and politics feed culture. This cycle is only disrupted by some huge collapsing event.
What do I mean by “collapsing event”?
I’ll give you an example.
Germany & WWII
One obvious example of this is WWII.
When Hitler and the Nazis gained control, so did their political values: anti-semitism, the concept of an Aryan “master race,” and the formation of a “New Order.”
“There are only two possibilities in Germany; do not imagine that the people will forever go with the middle party, the party of compromises; one day it will turn to those who have most consistently foretold the coming ruin and have sought to dissociate themselves from it…there are only two possibilities: either victory of the Aryan, or annihilation of the Aryan and the victory of the Jew.”
This was the first of the collapsing events: the Nazi takeover.
In 1945, another collapsing event would occur: their defeat.
And 44 years later, in 1989, would occur another collapsing event in Germany – this one almost a literal one – the fall of the Berlin wall, which separated East Germany from West Germany.
It was this collapsing event that eventually led to the Germany we know today: a federal parliamentary republic, an influential leader in Europe and the world, and the fourth largest economy.
This example demonstrates that politics can momentarily distort a culture’s values, can lead to evil acts. But, ultimately, if the majority’s values are good and strong, politics cannot destroy the true nature of a culture.
As long as that majority does not remain silent.
You can probably determine from the above example what a collapsing event is.
It’s a moment in history that almost entirely collapses the status quo, keeps the good or the bad (depending upon the values of the dominant group), attempts to eliminate the “other,” and starts building the status quo again from the ground, up, under newly installed values.
This is politics in culture.
Oftentimes, a collapsing event occurs through war and violence. In fact, one might look at politics as a war for cultural values.
A few more examples of collapsing events across history:
- American Civil War – Abraham Lincoln led the North in defeating the confederates to preserve the union and abolish slavery.
- Cultural Revolution – Chairman Mao Zedong’s attempt to preserve Communist ideology by destroying some of China’s capitalist past and tradition and silencing (and often publicly humiliating) community intellectuals and thought leaders.
- Execution of the Romanov Family – The Bolsheviks murdered the family members of the last living tsar dynasty to end imperialism in Russia.
The list is endless, and the bodycount is often devastating. These events create a turning point in history, where the established values are disrupted or altered, altogether.
And as we all know, values are the fundamental roots of culture. They define us.
Next week, we’ll talk about how politics, values, and culture collide in North Korea.