Retroculture

Retroculture
By Daniel G. Jennings
In his ongoing series of brilliant essays upon the “New Conservatism,” America’s most thoughtful conservative, Paul Weyrich, has put forward a fascinating concept: “Retroculture.” That is an effort to make America more like it was a couple of generations ago in the 1940s or 50s or at least to restore the values that made America in those decades.
Weyrich calls for a restoration, renewal might be a better word, of traditional American culture and society as it was before the 1960s hence a retroculture. He has in mind an effort to restore the culture similar to New Urbanism which seeks to restore traditional architecture and urban design. Weyrich points out that in architecture retro is in, a few decades ago it was fashionable to bulldoze old buildings, even entire neighborhoods to make way for new buildings in the name of progress. Now all the effort seems to go into preserving and restoring those buildings not as museums but as something people alive today can use. At the same time architects and designers are creating buildings, neighborhoods even entire communities in traditional forms and eschewing modern architecture.
Weyrich wonders if a similar effort to create a retroculture to promote and restore traditional values and traditional society might work. Of course we have to ask ourselves what a retroculture is and what it would look like?
A good starting point would be an effort to examine what we might call “Classic America,” i.e. America before 1960, and determine which elements of that society we want to preserve and promote and which elements we want to leave in the past. Yes there was a lot of good in pre 1960 America strong family values, a strong work ethic, patriotism, faith, respect, manners, class and style to name just a few things. But there was an ugly side to that America: racism, mindless obedience to authority, hysterical fears, militarism are just a few of the evils that era featured.
We could make a list of the things we want to bring back or promote say: civility, style, good manners, Classic American music, film, literature and television, faith, family values, traditional communities and the bad things we don’t want: racism, jingoism, sympathy for Communism, mindless faith in government and technology, naivete.
We might also ask ourselves what went wrong with Classic America, if it was so great why did large segments of the population reject it? Why was a seemingly vibrant culture so vulnerable to social upheavals and political chaos of the sixties and seventies? How do we revive what was great about Classic America without opening the door to more social and political upheaval?
I don’t know but one thing is sure the battle to recreate a Classic America will not be won in the political arena. Passing legislation or resorting to censorship won’t undo decades of Cultural Marxism and social upheaval. Such actions make politicians feel good but in the long run they will be meaningless.
No I suppose this war will be won or lost on a cultural level. That is by injecting Retroculture into the culture and offering it as a healthy alternative to main stream culture.
This has already occurred on a small scale, for example Tom Clancy’s novels which celebrate old fashioned patriotism and the military have done much to restore respect and support for the military and the federal government. “The Passion of the Christ” helped bring faith and Christianity back to the big screen. Movies like “The Lord of the Rings” promote old fashioned heroism.
Can it work? I don’t know but it’s certainly worth a try. One thing is for certain if conservatives want retroculture to work and “Classic America” to be revived they’ll need to move far beyond politics.