[Marxism] New Gramsci scholarship?

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,157952,00.html

Who Is Winning the Culture War?
Friday, May 27, 2005

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," May 25, 2005, that
has been edited for clarity.

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In "The Great Debate" segment tonight, conservative
commentator Pat Buchanan (search), who works at a television network I
can't remember the name of, has a new book out called "Where the Right Went
Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Administration and
Hijacked the Bush Presidency." Wow, what a title.

But what we want to know from Mr. Buchanan is if the left is really winning
the culture war? Pat Buchanan joins us now from Washington.

I'm right in the middle of this culture war. In fact, my next book is going
to be called "Culture Warrior." And, you know, I'm right in the middle of
this thing and I didn't know I was losing.

PAT BUCHANAN, AUTHOR, "WHERE THE RIGHT WENT WRONG": You are losing, Bill.

O'REILLY: Am I really?

BUCHANAN: Well, look, in the battle against Marxism and Leninism, in
economics and politics the Western civilization won, the United States won.
The Soviet empire collapsed.

But what I called cultural Marxism and militant secularism are clearly
winning in the United States of America.

You just did that ad by Paris Hilton (search). That would never have been
shown in the '50s or '60s in the United States. If you take a look at the
pornography and the filth that pours into American homes and you see the
consequences in divorces and broken families and delinquency and all of the
rest of them.

There was a communist known as Antonio Gramsci in Italy who argued that
this is the only way that Marxism is going to win. And I have to say they
are sure making progress and I think they're on the offensive.

O'REILLY: Yes, but in the totalitarianism regimes of China and the Third
Reich and Stalin, they didn't want any of this stuff. I mean, they knocked
this stuff out.

Franco in Spain. I was in Spain when Franco was in power. Man, they didn't
want any of that. Even in Singapore. The totalitarianism regimes did not
want them. So what's the difference here?

BUCHANAN: What's the difference here is that this is sort of, if you will,
soft Marxism. And what it's done is replaced Christianity. You know, a
culture is a product of a cult. Western civilization is a product of
Christianity.

And Gramsci and the others realized they had to de-Christianize the
culture. They had to change values. They had to make people think
differently, and then the citadel of western civilization would collapse.

If you look at western nations, there's not a single one today, Bill,
that's got a population that is not dying out. And I think if you take a
look at the culture we have now, compared to what we had in the 1950's, you
cannot say that is progress.

Especially when you see folks that are cutting off their TVs or throwing
them out. They're not going to movies; the language is filthy. I think you
take a look at the popular culture and you can't say we're winning.

(clip)


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