Think too hard about the culture war and you will surely go mad

The weekend round up

Taylor Swift and her boyfriend: a threat to all we hold dear?

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In this week’s round up I will look at how the culture wars boomerang back on their participants

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I know this is a bold claim to make on a damp February Sunday. But here is the most boring sentence I have ever written – by a mile.

To win the culture wars you must display moderation in all things. Take it to excess, dear reader, and disaster will follow.

Each side has a case their opponents cannot see. But despite their causes containing a smidgeon of truth, culture warriors cannot help heading off to the extremes, where, to the smug satisfaction of insufferable centrists everywhere, they invariably destroy themselves.

The cases of Taylor Swift, the National Trust and the England Men’s football team prove that if you gaze too long into the culture war abyss, the abyss will most certainly gaze into you.

As a starter, let us take the example of the right’s critique of the biases of the culture industry in general and of Taylor Swift in particular.