We have entered a dirty new phase in the culture war.

The battle lines are no longer black and white,

and there is no clean-cut ‘us’ or ‘them.’ When ideologies are applied, we see a real synthesis in the
culture war, and the culture itself is used as a tool of validation, or, a prize to be won. After talking to Jeff
Gomez, I decided to try to begin a conversation. I also owe thanks to my dear friend and brother Frank
Nordstrom and his ideas on belief-based marketing, as well as Jon Frater and Sam Mallikarjunan, who
have encouraged me to write. (And everyone else who has as well!)

There is no way to resolve the culture war and move back toward a common culture unless we can agree
on some fundamentals. Let’s examine one case study and see where it takes us:

#1) Comicsgate, Gamergate, The Fandom Menace, and other groups of fan “uprisings” for lack of a better
word want to see a successful product of what ever they are passionate for. The owners and producers
of the IP also want it to be successful

I. Creators like the idea of adding a streak of diversity to their work in order to attract a larger,
more diverse, and more attuned fan base.
a. But this change is being done in a way that isn’t transparent and doesn’t take the value
of the consumer of the art into the equation. It is also allied with broader socio-political
changes that the end consumer of the art doesn’t understand, and isn’t a participant in.
b. Artists and creatives who are passionate about representing diverse communities are
being pitted, intentionally or unintentionally, against the consumers of their art -- as are
communities that have felt silenced, or dismissed from the new common culture
i. Inclusion can be achieved in a manner that does not turn it into a zero-sum
game, but this involves creating new stories and new characters that connect to
the new realities that we are all facing in our common culture
II. The Fandoms in revolt view the media as something more than art: they view them as a
common cultural mythology that represents who we are and where we have come from.
a. The producers of the IP either don’t see or don’t understand the pride felt by fans of
being the stewards of a common folklore and mythology of our modern culture (and, I
might add, increasingly the framework for a global culture, which is the only step
forward to a true global economy and global governance)
b. Artists, as a general rule (there are notable exceptions) do not perceive themselves as
creators of shared mythology and folklore. They view themselves as storytellers, dealers
in tales that are being used to achieve an end political goal (which is implicit in the use of
Nerd Culture as a common cultural reference point to create a global culture)
III. Bad creative actors and bad fan actors together create an environment where achieving a
common language and common values for discussion becomes impossible (and often
undesirable)
a. These bad actors become monetized as part of the “PR” and “Sales” environment, as
people ‘virtue-signal’ and ‘counter-signal’ by selecting fault lines in the war, which moves
these products further away from what they are (common modern mythology and
folklore) and moves them to what they should never be (disposable commercial
products)
 b. The bad actors then not only become normalized but encouraged, as the system
assumes their presence in the future

This is the first point I think we should begin examining this subject under:

The people who share and retell the common folklore and myths of our increasingly globalized economy
and culture (the fans) do not trust the stewards of that common folklore and mythology (the big media
companies). The storytellers of the new common folklore and mythology (the creatives) view the
reactionary nature of fan responses to these end goals as hindering the movement toward a common
globalized economy and culture. The consumers of this common mythology and folklore (the fans) are
not part of the process of the coming of a common global economy and culture, which is not transparent
to begin with. Even the elites who manage it do not fully understand that process. Fans see these
changes happening in their society through non-democratic and non-transparent means, and they react
with populist outrage. While the creatives and the owners of the IP are closer to the changes, they don’t
understand it, either, so they assume (sometimes rightly) that their audience doesn’t know the process
either, and is even more ignorant than they are.

We must distinguish between source of the conflict (Nerd-Pop Culture as a foundational language for a
future global culture, economics, and government) and the subject matter that everyone is passionate
about (stewardship of these shared myths and icons). Superman isn’t valuable because he is
recognizable and lucrative. Superman is valuable because of how he inspires people, and how he
touches people. As Terry Pratchett laid out in The Hogfather: “Humans need fantasy to be human. To
be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape…You need to believe in things that are
not true, how else can they become?”