I followed a long rabbit trail of links today which provided an interesting peek into the worldview of contemporary Right wingers. It all started with a discussion on Metafilter about the death of Culture11, an incipient online magazine that wanted to be a right wing "Slate," but which collapsed before it could properly launch. Washington Monthly writer Charles Homans wrote a long obituary for Culture11 which tackled the larger issues that the online magazine faced. Homans details the struggle which Culture11 faced, which was to bring a more nuanced awareness of popular culture to the Right. According to Homans, Republicans in the Nixon era backed off from popular culture, creating a "walled garden" where they could live happily while the outside world evolved away from them. Forty years later, when members of the Right venture out of their walled garden (as they must, if they want to continue to survive), the result is disastrous. "Picking Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate" disastrous. If Sarah Palin proved anything, it's that the problem with living in a walled garden is that sometimes you have to go outside. And if you walk into a culture that you have ignored for 40 years, you will probably fall on your face. This article, more than anything, helped me understand why the Republican Party picked Sarah Palin. Don't get me wrong, I was pretty happy with the choice. Every time she did anything in public, she scuttled the Republican Party's chances that much more. But she was so manifestly WRONG for the job that I had to wonder what the heck they were thinking. I often wonder the same thing about Rush Limbaugh. About, for example, that shirt. Having read Homans' article, I now understand that shirt a little bit better. Limbaugh was simply trying his best to appear "correct," according to the mores of a society that he has been criticizing for the last 20 years. A mode of behavior which only works until that day when you have to step out into it. Culture11 tried to serve as a gateway between the Right and the rest of the country, and if it suffered growing pains and ideological disputes, who could blame it? But at least it made the effort. Big Hollywood, a blog run by the man who helped launch the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post, is a good example of what Culture11 was trying to avoid. I perused Big Hollywood and was left with the same conclusion as Homans - Big Hollywood is "really just a support group for 24 fans." Out of everything on the main page at the time when I hit it, "24" is the only current media offering that anyone seems to like. There is much criticism of stars, and the stupid things that stars say, and the liberal Hollywood establishment. And a small degree of praise for old television shows which are currently running on "Nick at Nite." I forget who said "the best way to criticize a book is to write your own." Unfortunately, this is a message that the Right, ensconced deep within its own echo chamber, refuses to hear. I suppose we should be grateful for that, because it leaves the rest of us with an entire world of gloriously left-leaning culture to nom.