How many times have conservatives been told ‘not to fight the culture wars’?
Worse, how many elected members of the Coalition believed the Left-wing deception that culture wars are a fabrication of social media and beneath their dignity?
Most of them.
Several regimes ago, the Coalition abandoned the fight for Australia’s culture and settled into a purely economic policy pitch that was ‘Labor-lite’.
It was an attempt to appear sensible and moderate to the doctors’ wives electorates of comfortable, rich voters whose main form of activism involves ticking the carbon-offset box on a Qantas ticket.
This was a mistake.
Politics is, by definition, the frontline of a war for the future culture of the nation.
One bad government creates cultural drift, but 30 years of pushing Left eventually shifts the bedrock and starts destabilising the nation’s structures. Agriculture, manufacturing, business, education … they all have a lean to them.
The system – whether a constitutional monarchy, republic, dictatorship, or theocracy – sets the ground rules. At its most subversive, the end result of this is not the creation of policy but the overthrowing of the political system. A revolution through culture.
Western Left-wing movements managed to convince the collective Right to stop caring about the direction of culture and, in rapid time, we have watched younger generations pivot toward dictatorial, socialist-style systems.
They have been lied to in the absence of an opposition to correct the record.
Australian conservatives entirely washed their hands of education and entrusted the next generation to a union-run education system that donates directly to Labor.
These are the politicians who like to remind us how smart they are…
America managed to rescue the situation with the unstoppable charismatic force of a resurrected Donald Trump who, immortalised as a symbol of defiance by multiple assassination attempts, was propelled through the American youth thanks to a savvy online campaign. He is working fast because the Republicans know they have one shot to cripple the corrupt Democrats and drain the Swamp. DOGE was a mark of brilliance, and well-worth the fleeting public fallout with Elon Musk. The Left lost the bulk of their money and with it, their ability to fund global cultural machines churning out subversive narratives.
The United Kingdom is taking the slow path by leaning heavily on the Westminster system that allows the rise of minor parties such as Reform. Their party faithful are praying that millions of illegal migrants do not hold the balance of power. The numbers here are scarily tight and, if Farage pulls off the political heist of the century and walks into Parliament as Prime Minister, he will have to ‘do a Trump’ and start mass deportations of the criminal underclass that hopped on zodiacs in France.
Canada saw the civilisational cliff edge and is now deciding if it can gain style points for flying off faster than everyone else. Donald Trump really was joking when he had a crack at folding Canada into the American empire. The last thing he wants is a rooftop apartment full of self-destructive Liberals.
The European Union is doing what it does every century … stages a conflict between radical ‘isms’ and then squeals for help when everything goes to hell. This time, they sent an invite to the Caliphate to join the fight between Globalism and Nationalism. Russia will no doubt wait behind the safety of its borders to rule over whatever is left.
Australia is … learning nothing from history or the present horror of its kin.
Blessed with a giant moat, Albanese (and Liberal governments before him) voluntarily opened the door to unskilled mass migration from the mostly fundamentally Islamic third-world. Now they idiotically claim to have no idea why antisemitism, socialism, Islam, and anti-colonial sentiment has boiled into a national fever or why young Australians have nowhere to live. Must be those pesky Boomers.
Right on cue, the remaining patriotic Australians who feel disaffected by the narrative of ‘toxic masculinity’ (perfectly warranted), jealous at the lavish taxpayer-funded perks bestowed on migrants, angry at the deliberate re-writing of settler history, flabbergasted by threats of race taxes and other Indigenous racial land perks, and distress over being a foreigner in their home town have been rapidly captured by ethno-nationalist movements that operate online and send out invitations to the White Australian movement.
We are talking about the influencer generation who are primed to follow online trends led by mostly unknown pop-up stars.
This growing resistance has already turned on the former leaders of the Freedom Movement and views the conservative Prime Ministers and media kings of the last century as either irrelevant or traitors. The old guard who held control of the conservative narrative are being ignored while alternate voices are growing stronger, entirely out of sight of traditional media who simply cannot find a way to close the generational gap.
Normally politics blends between generations, but with those over 60 refusing to interact with social media, and those under 35 living without a TV, newspapers, or radio … this situation is the political equivalent of speaking different languages. We have young radicalised voters and older, traditional voters separated by a thin veneer of workers and young families too busy surviving the cost-of-living crisis to partake in the culture wars.
This situation would be easier to navigate if it were not for the Left spending decades falsely accusing everyone on the Right of being a Nazi because they supported things like ‘free speech’ and ‘low taxes’. The accusation became meaningless and now it is impossible to raise the alarm about self-declared neo-Nazis infiltrating the Right. By this I mean people with, ‘Heil Hitler’ in their bios, nostalgic ramblings about how the Nazis were the world’s misunderstood saviours, and that the modern neo-Nazis are the only ones prepared to stand up for Australia like our Diggers did. Laugh all you want; this message is being taken seriously by a neglected generation.
The Left think they can save the world through Net Zero and these kids think they can save Australia by brushing shoulders with ethno-nationalism.
They need leaders to re-direct their despair into sane, productive politics but all they get from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is a permanent out-of-touch listening tour. The Opposition think they have until the next election, but culture wars do not keep pace with political terms.
As an observer, it is almost as if, since the Left normalised the hatred of Jews and revived Jewish conspiracy theories, the neo-Nazis were able to tap into that accepted narrative and build on the genuine grievances of young people. If hating the Jews is normal, was Hitler really so bad? In this way, the Left are accomplices. It is an echo of Amin al-Husseini.
Yes, the modern variety of mass migration is a grave mistake and has ruined Australia for young people. No, the answer is not ‘Hitler’. But where else can they look? Have the Liberals promised mass deportations? No. Have they promised an end to racial prejudice surrounding Voice activities? No. Have they promised to restore pride in Australia’s cultural heritage? No. They won’t even address the lies of Net Zero. Labor state premiers have just taught an entire generation that referendums mean nothing and then they are surprised by a loss of faith in the political system. The only groups that bully the government are pro-Palestine activists and so yes, they are obviously going to mimic their tactics.
Young people see no answers and they’re being sucked in by predatory movements that tell them exactly what they want to hear … that they are the future heroes of an existential culture war.
This situation is rampant on Twitter and Rumble, where the average age is late-20s and mid-30s, but it’s growing on TikTok on what you would imagine to be the Left-wing teens.
I have written this because I have thoroughly given up trying to sound the alarm. My age and technical history leaves me standing between the two age groups and all I am left with is the sinking feeling of disconnect. Classical liberalism is dying, inhabited by a generation happy to count their coins and ride out the end of Australia, while a furious younger class feel as if they have no future at all.
Trying to convince anyone in traditional media who is over a certain age that this cultural movement is happening is next to impossible. Unless you have endured hours of Twitter Spaces, scrolled through TikTok and read the conversations in the comments, or spent time searching through the comment sections of influential accounts and seen your former Blue Ribbon patriots falling one-by-one into the nihilistic political arena, you wouldn’t believe it.
This is a silent movement. The next revolution in Australian politics is mobilising online. Sometimes it leaks out into the real world in a pro-Palestine march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but most of this battle will take place in comment sections that political commentators never read. It is like having a secret radical publication.
The answer is not to ban any of this, but rather for mainstream politicians to wake up to this generational divide and start offering young people solutions to their problems that don’t sound like future broken campaign promises.
The time for managerial politics is over, whether politicians agree or not.
Flat White is written by Alexandra Marshall. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.
