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What would life be like if conservatives had their way? (1 Viewer)

Captain Cranks

Footballguy
This question came to me after seeing some complaints about liberal entertainment companies being too woke and pondering what a conservative alternative would look like. Let's just assume there were no progressives in the US over the last 30 years; thus, conservatives were able to call the shots on everything from legislative policy to entertainment to social norms. In what ways, good and bad, do you think life would be different?

 
This question came to me after seeing some complaints about liberal entertainment companies being too woke and pondering what a conservative alternative would look like. Let's just assume there were no progressives in the US over the last 30 years; thus, conservatives were able to call the shots on everything from legislative policy to entertainment to social norms. In what ways, good and bad, do you think life would be different?
One theocracy is not better than the other. It would look much the same. Just changing who gets persecuted. 

 
This question came to me after seeing some complaints about liberal entertainment companies being too woke and pondering what a conservative alternative would look like. Let's just assume there were no progressives in the US over the last 30 years; thus, conservatives were able to call the shots on everything from legislative policy to entertainment to social norms. In what ways, good and bad, do you think life would be different?
I can't see it being meaningfully different.  What people fail to realize is that both "sides" have the same goal.  They just bicker over how to drive the bus and what path we should take....it's one big game of "Look !!!!  Squirrel !!!!!!"

As far as entertainment companies go, the market drives that mostly.  Nothing stopping a "conservative" entertainment company from doing it's thing or multiple for that matter.  I just don't think their brand is all that much in demand.  Not much more complicated than that.

 
I can't see it being meaningfully different.  What people fail to realize is that both "sides" have the same goal.  They just bicker over how to drive the bus and what path we should take....it's one big game of "Look !!!!  Squirrel !!!!!!"

As far as entertainment companies go, the market drives that mostly.  Nothing stopping a "conservative" entertainment company from doing it's thing or multiple for that matter.  I just don't think their brand is all that much in demand.  Not much more complicated than that.
Do you think we'd have as much diversity and equal rights as we do now?

 
Two years? Perhaps not, but my op mentioned 30 years. 
News coverage has changed over the last 30 years to more opinion-based, as has the emergence of social media for news.  
 

good, bad, or otherwise, things will be done with less regard for inclusion or worry about offending.
 

 
There would be a big beautiful wall on the Mexican border.

Abortion would be severely restricted (possibly illegal) in all states.

Same-sex marriage would not be allowed.

Pot would still be illegal in all states.

 
It would be like Iran.

But life if it were only progressive liberals would be really crappy too.

As much as liberals and conservatives often hate each other's ideologies (or in many cases, sadly, each other as people) each are completely necessary to create the balance that makes this country great.

 
There would be a big beautiful wall on the Mexican border.

Abortion would be severely restricted (possibly illegal) in all states.

Same-sex marriage would not be allowed.

Pot would still be illegal in all states.
Yeah...I would think gay and women's rights would not have progressed very far if conservatives had their druthers.

 
"What would the entertainment industry look like if it were as conservative as it actually is liberal?" is an interesting counter-factual.  Most "conservative media" I've seen has been terrible, but I think that's partly because it's too overtly ideological and didactic to be good art.  

If you're looking for it, you occasionally run across good examples of high-quality media that incorporate a conservative worldview.  Craig Zahler's movies obviously fit this category, as do a lot of Tarantino movies.  Old Fox programs like The Simpsons and especially King of the Hill were weirdly criticized by conservatives at the time but are downright reactionary when viewed today.  Some of the pre-woke Disney stuff, like The Incredibles, could qualify too.  My best guess is that in a world dominated by conservatives, we'd probably see more titles like this.  In other words, the industry would look pretty similar but the points of emphasis would change a little.    

 
I can't see it being meaningfully different.  What people fail to realize is that both "sides" have the same goal.  They just bicker over how to drive the bus and what path we should take....it's one big game of "Look !!!!  Squirrel !!!!!!"

As far as entertainment companies go, the market drives that mostly.  Nothing stopping a "conservative" entertainment company from doing it's thing or multiple for that matter.  I just don't think their brand is all that much in demand.  Not much more complicated than that.
The entertainment industry was quite conservative for a long time. You can look popular music and movies of the 30s-early 60s to get an idea. 

 
Remember when NYPD Blue was considered controversial. It probably doesn't exist if conservatives got their way back then.

ETA: The controversy only made me, an adolescent at the time, want to see the show more. I was very disappointed when I actually watched the show and only saw Dennis Franz's wrinkled bum.

 
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Do you think we'd have as much diversity and equal rights as we do now?
Diversity/Equal Rights under the law?  No...absolutely not.

And I do sort of wonder if the country would be as diverse in mix of people too now that you mention it....good question.  

I DO think we'd have a much more stark delineation between the "haves" and "have nots".  

 
This question came to me after seeing some complaints about liberal entertainment companies being too woke and pondering what a conservative alternative would look like. Let's just assume there were no progressives in the US over the last 30 years; thus, conservatives were able to call the shots on everything from legislative policy to entertainment to social norms. In what ways, good and bad, do you think life would be different?
Something like The Handmaiden's Tale but with much more Kevin Sorbo.

 
World's top 10 most conservative nations.

Yemen    
Mali    
Iran    
Pakistan    
Chad    
Egypt
Saudi Arabia    
Lebanon
Eswatini
Ethiopia    
I'm sure the conservatives here would much rather live in these countries over the 10 most liberal countries:

Norway
Sweden
Denmark
Finland
Iceland
New Zealand
Switzerland
Canada
Germany
Austria

 
"What would the entertainment industry look like if it were as conservative as it actually is liberal?" is an interesting counter-factual.  Most "conservative media" I've seen has been terrible, but I think that's partly because it's too overtly ideological and didactic to be good art.  

If you're looking for it, you occasionally run across good examples of high-quality media that incorporate a conservative worldview.  Craig Zahler's movies obviously fit this category, as do a lot of Tarantino movies.  Old Fox programs like The Simpsons and especially King of the Hill were weirdly criticized by conservatives at the time but are downright reactionary when viewed today.  Some of the pre-woke Disney stuff, like The Incredibles, could qualify too.  My best guess is that in a world dominated by conservatives, we'd probably see more titles like this.  In other words, the industry would look pretty similar but the points of emphasis would change a little.    
It would look like 1950s television

 
It would look like 1950s television
I strongly doubt that.  There's a market out there for bland, inoffensive programming, but most right-wingers I know glommed onto South Park from the beginning, and I'm not seeing any evidence that conservative humor has become less edgy over time.

 
I strongly doubt that.  There's a market out there for bland, inoffensive programming, but most right-wingers I know glommed onto South Park from the beginning, and I'm not seeing any evidence that conservative humor has become less edgy over time.
Totally agree. We’ve just moved on as a culture in what we find funny, regardless of politics. However, it is fair to question what if the liberals hadn’t “won the culture war” of the 60s and 70s. If All in the Family isn’t allowed to air? If the Production Code stayed in place and movies like MASH and Blazing Saddles were absolutely impossible to make? If people like Carlin and Eddie Murphy were arrested repeatedly for public vulgarity, banned in many cities? Would the culture of comedy  still have ended up where it is today? 

 
Totally agree. We’ve just moved on as a culture in what we find funny, regardless of politics. However, it is fair to question what if the liberals hadn’t “won the culture war” of the 60s and 70s. If All in the Family isn’t allowed to air? If the Production Code stayed in place and movies like MASH and Blazing Saddles were absolutely impossible to make? If people like Carlin and Eddie Murphy were arrested repeatedly for public vulgarity, banned in many cities? Would the culture of comedy  still have ended up where it is today? 


Good points...but the odd part is we have come full circle in that it is the woke left that has now put the clamps down on a lot of the comedy.

 
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Good points...but the odd part is we have come full circle in that it is the woke left that would not allow much of that type of comedy now.
Yeah for sure. Studios would never make them now because social media allows (a potential minority) opinion to become organized and loud. Also I think studios are more than ever corporate controlled and the people running it only want to maximize the profit. They aren’t willing to do something controversial for the sake of art.

I support movies like MASH being made though I also think it would bomb today because it clashes with our sense of values. MASH is a very bad movie imo and the jokes are mostly downright mean. I am sure it had its time and place, obviously it struck a chord at the time. I think we’ve moved on from comedy that’s just belittling women. It is interesting though that it was an anti-establishment liberal success. Conservatives at the time likely hated it and wanted it banned for mocking the military, crudeness, etc. Now it does seem reversed where liberals would tear it apart as mean, unfunny, tasteless. Which would then trigger conservatives to champion it as freedom of speech, anti-establishment, middle finger to the woke libs.

It’s all very bizarre. 

 
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There would be a big beautiful wall on the Mexican border.

Abortion would be severely restricted (possibly illegal) in all states.

Same-sex marriage would not be allowed.

Pot would still be illegal in all states.


Most if not all of the conservative's I know are not against abortion.  Remember Dem Catholics are pro-life as well. To me this should not be a left right issue.

Most if not all do not care about same sex marriages.

Most smoke or have smoked pot so that is not an issue at all.

Most do not want a wall but want a stronger policy that what is going on right now.

Most think we should not be weak on law and order like Dem cities are so there would probably be a lower crime rate.

Comedy would probably still be edgy without comedians being afraid.

 
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Good points...but the odd part is we have come full circle in that it is the woke left that has now put the clamps down on a lot of the comedy.
Good comedy is transgressive, and that pretty much only exists on the RHS of the spectrum these days.  People on the left went from the likes of Lenny Bruce and George Carlin to Tracy from HR.  

On the down side, I don't imagine that a conservative society would produce films like Full Metal Jacket or Platoon.  Our war movies would range from Saving Private Ryan on the good end to Starship Troopers (unironic viewing) on the bad end.  It's very easy for me to imagine right-wing versions of famous Hollywood dramas like Wall Street (Boiler Room), and it's easy to point to well-known movies that aren't explicitly "conservative" but which fit very nicely with a conservative worldview, like Unforgiven or No Country For Old Men.  War movies would absolutely not be the same though.  (Edit: Huh -- it's probably not a coincidence that the first two "sorta conservative" films I thought of off the top of my head are both westerns.  That whole genre could exist in this hypothetical society more or less completely unchanged).

 
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Most if not all of the conservative's I know are not against abortion.  Remember Dem Catholics are pro-life as well. To me this should not be a left right issue.

Most if not all do not care about same sex marriages.

Most smoke or have smoked pot so that is not an issue at all.

Most do not want a wall but want a stronger policy that what is going on right now.
Then why are most conservative candidates and elected officials the exact opposite of this?

 
Most if not all of the conservative's I know are not against abortion.  Remember Dem Catholics are pro-life as well. To me this should not be a left right issue.

Most if not all do not care about same sex marriages.

Most smoke or have smoked pot so that is not an issue at all.

Most do not want a wall but want a stronger policy that what is going on right now.
George W Bush wanted to enshrine the defense of marriage act in the constitution. If conservatives controlled the country for the past 30 years there have been no RBG, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomeyer on the court to legalize same sex marriage. It was progressive states that were legalizing same sex marriage, it would still be illegal in conservative states if not for the supreme court.

Progressives lead the way in legalizing pot. It's still illegal in many conservative states. Remember when it was a big deal that Bill Clinton smoked pot.

You're forgetting all the struggle of these things and just assuming that the progress would have happened without progressives. The progressives dragged the conservatives into most of these positions.

 
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Then why are most conservative candidates and elected officials the exact opposite of this?


Who knows? 

It is just like my Dem friends and family and I have quite a few in family, none of them act or talk like the elected officials. 

 
George W Bush wanted to enshrine the defense of marriage act in the constitution. If conservatives controlled the country for the past 30 years there have been no RBG, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomeyer on the court to legalize same sex marriage. It was progressive states that were legalizing same sex marriage, it would still be illegal in conservative states if not for the supreme court.

Progressives lead the way in legalizing pot. It's still illegal in many conservative states. Remember when it was a big deal that Bill Clinton smoked pot.

You're forgetting all the struggle of these things and just assuming that the progress would have happened without progressives. The progressives dragged the conservatives into most of these positions.


In basically that same time frame or even later both Hillary and Obama were against gays getting married too. 

Dems only "Officially"endorsed gay marriage as a party in 2012.

 
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Absolutely. I wouldn't consider them progressive. They had to be dragged into supporting it as well.


I am just saying nobody I come in contact with cares about who marries who. I have never heard anyone in the last 15-20 years care or hardly even talk about it.

 
I am just saying nobody I come in contact with cares about who marries who. I have never heard anyone in the last 15-20 years care or hardly even talk about it.
But if there was nobody fighting to make same-sex legal then it would never have been legalized. And it was the progressives that were fighting for that. If they didn't exist for the past 30 years, the status quo would still exist which is no same-sex marriage.

I am not saying if you removed progressives right now that conservatives would rush out and make same-sex marriage illegal again, I'm saying these things would never have changed without progressives.

 
There would be a big beautiful wall on the Mexican border.

Abortion would be severely restricted (possibly illegal) in all states.

Same-sex marriage would not be allowed.

Pot would still be illegal in all states.
3/4  would be improvements.  :shrug:

 
I would never have guessed that you were against the wall. 
:lmao:

Intentional or not that was funny.  I support the people being able to marry who they want and see banning it as against what conservatives stand for.  MJ is close, but I haven't seen any evidence at all that it's a positive for the country and lots of evidence that it's not; across the board we restrict intoxicants and this should probably go back on the list.  While I'm at it I'd probably also ban the lottery - it is a huge tax on the poor with very little social redeeming value.

 
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Totally agree. We’ve just moved on as a culture in what we find funny, regardless of politics. However, it is fair to question what if the liberals hadn’t “won the culture war” of the 60s and 70s. If All in the Family isn’t allowed to air? If the Production Code stayed in place and movies like MASH and Blazing Saddles were absolutely impossible to make? If people like Carlin and Eddie Murphy were arrested repeatedly for public vulgarity, banned in many cities? Would the culture of comedy  still have ended up where it is today? 
Completely agree that the “snowflake liberals” of today who want to cancel anything funny would ruin comedy.  And are ruining comedy.

 
:lmao:

Intentional or not that was funny.  I support the people being able to marry who they want and see it as against what conservatives stand for.  MJ is close, but I haven't seen any evidence at all that it's a positive for the country and lots of evidence that it's not; across the board we restrict intoxicants and this should probably go back on the list.  While I'm at it I'd probably also ban the lottery - it is a huge tax on the poor with very little social redeeming value.
Since it was funny, it was definitely intentional. :) Restricting intoxicants is different than banning them. Would you also ban alcohol? I don't see much difference in their level of harm.

 

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