4 Comments

Chas Crockett
December 16th, 2012 | 1:33 pm

Thanks for posting this, a great discussion. I wish we could do presidential debates this way.

Mike Melendez
December 16th, 2012 | 5:48 pm

What a difference from the previous IQ2 posting! Two men who disagree fundamentally on how the world should be viewed discussing it with wit, intelligence, and, most wonderfully, patience and consideration.

Fred
December 17th, 2012 | 6:24 pm

I found it surprising how likable Terry Eagleton is and frightening how much I agreed with him on. Still, I’m pretty solidly in the Scruton camp on matters of culture.

Heather
December 18th, 2012 | 5:10 am

This was an excellent “debate.” They are both great presenters.

However, I believe the term “culture wars” in the title of the post was a complete misnomer because it has a very different meaning in Europe.

First, it is not as widely used as in the US. If you ask what does the term “culture wars” refer to in the US, many Europeans cannot answer, even if they have heard about many of the major issues covered by the “culture wars.” To me, this debate was not about the “culture wars,” since we don’t use the term to refer to any cultural difference, nor to most of the differences debated in the video.

Second, if you say “liberal” to a Brit, and even more certainly to other Europeans, they will immediately think you are talking about liberal *economics*, and that the subject has something to do with Marxism vs. Economic liberalism.

“Liberal” in the US, as I imagine everyone reading this blog knows, means something completely different. Moreoever, if you say “social conservative” to many Europeans, they are at a loss of what you are referring to, unless you do you a recap of American politics and cultural issues.

Although I don’t agree with the ridiculous essay below, about how superior the author thinks Britain is, he also remarks that the concept of “culture wars” has been quite foreign to the UK until recently, and very different than its widespread use in the US. Even if that may be increasingly changing now.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9743058/Gay-marriage-Britain-is-getting-a-glimpse-of-the-crazy-world-of-culture-wars.html