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Conservative brand building 101
Step 1: Dog whistle for those to your right.
Step 2: Get called out on dog whistling.
Step 3: Play the victim to gin up sympathy/legitimation from centrists and produce even more monetizable anger to your right.
Step 4: Rinse, Repeat.
Step 1: Dog whistle for those to your right.
Step 2: Get called out on dog whistling.
Step 3: Play the victim to gin up sympathy/legitimation from centrists and produce even more monetizable anger to your right.
Step 4: Rinse, Repeat.
It's very conceivable that someone unfamiliar with broader cultural trends might use the fairly archaic terms "Judeo-Christian tradition" or "Western Civilization" without intending to dog whistle. But Ben prides himself on his fancy education and cultural savvy.
Ben knows full well that the same community that built Notre Dame had zero interest in being a part of any sort of "Judeo-Christian tradition," otherwise, they wouldn't have burned the torah or driven the Jews out of France multiple times.
Ben also knows full well that Islam is a central pillar of "Western Civilization," yet here and in his broader body of work he has tried to push a narrative in which "the west" is counterposed to "non-west" Islam. It's terrible history, but effective right-wing politics.
Ben is not some 75 year old who went to college way back before "Western Civ" as a category hadn't been interrogated. He knows what he's doing. I suspect that a significant portion of what he's doing is creating PR buzz for his new book...which is about "Western Civilization."
Here's an interesting article on the complicated history of the term "Judeo-Christian Tradition" which has only been in use since the 1930s. It gained traction primarily during the Cold War. bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/06/…
Here's another account of the history of the term "Judeo-Christian tradition" in American history. h/t @arothmanhistory for the link. aeon.co/ideas/the-stra…
