CULTUREWARSAREONTHERISEINIRELAND WITHEDUCATIONALSETTINGSATTHECENTRE

WRITES JAMES KEMMY | NEWS EDITOR

The culture war phenomenon, something typically seen in American political debate, has been largely absent from Irish public discourse - up until now, that is Generally described as a feature of contemporary social dialogue, ‘cultural’ clashes involve deep polarisations over issues rooted in identity and see ideological struggles between groups with seemingly incompatible values

These divisions are often uniquely modern as they disregard traditional political factors such as class structure and party alignment in favour of more complex, emotive criteria like religion, multiculturalism, perceptions of freedom, gender and sexuality While a certain vagueness surrounds the precise definition of this term, recent events in Ireland have highlighted just how divided political outlooks are and appear to suggest the increasing prominence of the culture war here

Emerging from the Covid era with its vaccine and lockdown controversies, came the major politicisation of public health strategy Initially seen in the US and Britain, a highly contentious environment took root in relation to pandemic decision-making A brutal dilemma faced politicians as they sought to minimise the virus’s incidence rate on the one hand and maintain a degree of economic and social life on the other This area of policymaking fiercely divided groups, with the beliefs and convictions of either side seemingly going beyond opinion on pandemic management to a question of wider worldviews over the role of the state in society So steadfast were anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine campaigners, undoubtedly radicalised by internet conspiracy, that they often portrayed governments as sinister and even oppressive, determined to encroach upon citizens’ liberties

This nature of debate could also be seen in the wake of the US Black Lives Matter movement In this situation, searing clashes between protestors and counter-protesters revealed deep-rooted tensions surrounding police authority and racial justice which had been simmering for years Something which mushroomed into a media and political storm, the BLM discussion saw the US’s political wings diverge even further, leading to unprecedented institutional partisanship and extraordinary civil fragmentation