Last night, I went to see what’s already being hailed as the movie of the year by critics and many cinemagoers alike: Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. Having watched it and subsequently read a number of those rave reviews, I can only describe myself as experiencing a state of alienation not dissimilar to that so many of us felt in the days following Charlie Kirk’s murder.
It is the effect of being reminded that you – social conservative of whatever stripe you may be – are surrounded by people who and immersed in a culture that think at worst you’re a fascist, or at best, think you’re enabling a fascist system or fascist resurgence, depending on the condition of social conservatism wherever you happen to find yourself.