How the Elite Weaponize Culture to Fight the Class War
In an era of social upheaval, “culture war” has become a buzzword, masking a deeper struggle beneath the surface. What I will call the “influence network” is nothing but a privileged group wielding significant economic, political, and social power. This cabal includes wealthy individuals, political leaders, corporate executives, media moguls, and influential academics. They stoke cultural conflicts over education, media representation, identity, and ethics, igniting fierce reactions and divisions to overshadow pressing economic issues.
Understanding the nature of culture wars is crucial to recognizing the influence network’s deceitful strategies. By inflaming cultural conflicts through media, politics, and social platforms, they create a polarized environment where cultural grievances smother economic issues. Sociologists and political analysts have long documented how elites use cultural issues to maintain their stranglehold on power. By exploiting identity politics, the influence network deliberately fragments potential coalitions, weakening class solidarity. Culture wars may seem to revolve around values and beliefs, but they are nothing more than a smokescreen for deeper economic and social divisions. Debates over education policy highlight disparities in access to quality education, deliberately obscuring the broader issue of economic inequality. Battles over media representation are designed to mask the underlying economic structures that control whose stories get told and who gets a platform. Controversies over social norms and behaviors are just distractions from the economic conditions that shape people’s lives and opportunities.
Several organizations within the influence network play a significant role in shaping public opinion, often acting in bad faith and with sinister intentions. Major media outlets frame cultural issues to align with their own interests, acting as mouthpieces for the elite. Noam Chomsky has exposed how media serves the interests of the powerful by deflecting from economic issues. Right-of-center political parties hammer culture war issues to manipulate and mobilize voters, pushing their hidden agendas. Think tanks like The Heritage Foundation churn out lies and propaganda to serve their nefarious purposes. Religious institutions preach traditional values, while educational institutions are dragged into divisive debates over social justice. Corporate lobby groups relentlessly influence policy decisions and public opinion to favor big business.
In Christopher Wylie’s book, “Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America,” reveals how Steve Bannon, who effectively ran Cambridge Analytica, used it to spread divisive narratives and wage a culture war during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This was merely the early years of the war on minds. As Wylie pointed out, “Facebook is no longer just a company. It’s a doorway into the minds of the American people, and Mark Zuckerberg left that door wide open for Cambridge Analytica, the Russians, and who knows how many others.”
The Influence Network
The Circus
The influence network’s vile manipulation of cultural skirmishes is a ruse to distract from the real critical issues: stagnant wages, rising income inequality. By keeping the public preoccupied with these manufactured cultural disputes, they cunningly deflect attention from labor rights, tax policies that favor the wealthy, and the dismantling of social safety nets. Political economists have shown how these tactics shield elite interests while burying the need for systemic economic reforms. Additionally, they obscure discussions about corporate influence in politics, regulatory rollbacks benefiting big business, and the erosion of workers’ rights. These tactics ensure that systemic economic reforms remain off the agenda, safeguarding the influence network’s power while the majority continues to suffer.
The Backstage
The influence network’s shadowy machinations extend to covert operations designed to maintain their iron grip on power. Dark money sluices through political campaigns, ensuring that only candidates who support their agenda are elected. Behind closed doors, lobbyists quietly shape legislation to benefit the elite, often at the expense of the general public. By funding astroturf movements, they craft the illusion of grassroots support for their policies. Whistleblowers and investigative journalists have exposed countless examples of these shady tactics, but the influence network is a master at silencing dissent and evading accountability. To counter these covert operations and reclaim democracy from the clutches of the elite, the public must remain vigilant and informed.
The Crystal Ball
The influence network’s mastery of data analytics is yet another weapon in their arsenal of control. By mining vast amounts of personal data, they craft targeted messages designed to manipulate emotions and behaviors. Companies like Palantir arm them with the tools to turn our digital footprints into a treasure trove of information, used to sway political campaigns, shape consumer behavior, and even predict criminal activity. The elite have weaponized data to tighten their grip on power, turning our personal information into a commodity that can be bought and sold. As we continue to live our lives online, we must be acutely aware of how our data is being used against us and take steps to protect our privacy.
The Clowns
The influence network has stealthily infiltrated the cultural sphere, channeling funds toward content that neatly aligns with their hidden agenda. They manipulate the narrative in popular culture, pulling the strings from behind the curtain. Traditional platforms like movies, TV shows, and music are being overshadowed by more subversive mediums like podcasts YouTube channels. Social media, in particular, has become their playground, where powerful algorithms prioritize sensationalism over truth and manipulate emotions to deepen societal divides. These algorithms create echo chambers, ensnaring users in a relentless loop of confirmation bias and increasingly extreme viewpoints. It’s almost as if the platforms thrive on this division—because, let’s face it, sensationalism drives engagement, and engagement drives profits. The influence network’s deep pockets allow them to dominate cultural production, ensuring their worldview is incessantly propagated while dissenting voices are ruthlessly marginalized. This relentless control over cultural narratives not only solidifies their current power but also secures their future dominance, leaving little room for opposition or alternative perspectives.
Billionaires’ Bunkers
One issue at the heart of their latest atrocities is the climate crisis. While billionaires prepare their bunkers and private islands for the coming storm, the rest of us are left to suffer the fallout. Scientists and activists scream for immediate action, but the elite tighten their grip on power through fossil fuels and authoritarian measures. Naomi Klein has exposed how the climate crisis is deeply intertwined with economic and social inequalities. The climate crisis is an existential threat to our economic hierachies. Klein stated, “We can’t leave everything to the free market. In fact, climate change is, I would argue, the greatest single free-market failure. This is what happens when you don’t regulate corporations and you allow them to treat the atmosphere as an open sewer.” The climate crisis is central to the class war, and we must wake up to the fact that the influence network is playing a dangerous game.
The Fight for Truth
Despite the influence network’s overwhelming power, there are still those who refuse to bow. Activists, journalists, and whistleblowers risk their lives and careers to expose the truth. Grassroots movements and independent media outlets strive to counter the influence network’s narrative and amplify marginalized voices. To fight this network, should we make our owns? Should we build our own ”think tanks” and ”troll farms”? Should we strive more to create spaces where this influence network is neutralized?