The New Mediator

Net, Niche, and the Fall Of Conservatism

Posted on 15. Jan, 2009 by Joe Peicott in As-I-See-It, Politics

Conservatism is a triumph of group-think and peer pressure. It’s a championed ideal, a beckoning back to a bygone era that we all, ‘if we’re patriotic,’ if we’re ‘real Americans,’ should pine for. A set of rules. A general consensus of likes and dislikes. An ethereal but definitely present ‘American Spirit.’ Most of us, to some extent, find a way to enjoy participating. Who wouldn’t want to embraced by that warm and fuzzy mass, that feeling of belonging, which is the bedrock of conservatism?

Well, actually, fewer and fewer of us. We all know that the net is granting myriad niches ever expanding influence. Usually when people talk about the increasing power of the Niche, they’re speaking from an economic perspective. Niche entertainment programming, for instance, becomes suddenly viable if the program in question can be sold and delivered to, say, a full 75% of the people in its niche. But there’s also a new political power brewing in the emerging niche culture, and it doesn’t have anything to do with political meetups, or Ron Paul fan realizing he’s not the only one who doesn’t think Paul sounds all that nuts. It’s the cultural force inherent in a connected Niche culture that poses a real threat to conservatism.

Imagine you’re a teenager growing up in a small Midwestern town in the 1980’s. You’re at the record store and you check out the weird, alternative magazine rack in the corner. One comic jumps out at you– say, a manga epic about sexy cyborgs in miniskirts who sleep their way to world domination. For some twisted reason– you freak– you’re really digging this comic book. You love it, you want to share it, discuss it, tell the world. But you’re living in small town America. You’ve only got 40 other guys in your class and, chances are, not a one of them is going to appreciate the brilliant metaphor for life that is Sexy Cyborgs. So what do you do? You either bring it up and get shot down, or you keep it to yourself. Meanwhile, your other 40 classmates are keeping their weird-ass interests and obsessions to themselves, and so you all end up connecting over… What? Baseball, and beer, and church on Sundays, and other mass cultural, accepted pastimes.

These American pastimes, these sanctioned activities are at the root of conservatism’s power. You grow up thinking that if you repress your more outlandish interests (the Sexy Cyborgs) and embrace the shared interests of the group, you’ll be accepted, you’ll feel warm and fuzzy, you’ll feel part of something. And you soon become the one mocking the outlandish interests and ideas of others. You grow up to defend the shared, mass cultural experience you were roped into. You grow up to be a Republican.

But what if a teenager digs a weird comic book today? What’s the first thing he’ll do? Likely, he’ll look up the book on Wikipedia and be mesmerized by its intricacies. Next a Google search, and a click through onto the fan sites, the forums, the geeking out. He won’t be put down for for his strange interest in this comic book (or music, or whatever floats his boat), he’ll be embraced by people who love it just as much as he does. Moreover, by realizing he’s not alone in his interests, by connecting with people who feel the way he does, he gains confidence in his tastes and in himself, the kind of confidence that used to only be obtained through joining the big, traditional American mob.

As the internet emboldens generations to explore, connect, and become more confident in their out-of-the-mainstream ideas and interests, the conservative movement is in for a rude awakening and a steady decline. The steady rise of the Niche, and the cultural emboldening of those with off center ideas, will over time have a real political impact. The less WE agree on (or pretend to agree on), the less power conservatism will hold over our fragmented society.

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