07/06/2007
Pat Buchanan used to talk about "cultural war" in his presidential campaigns. When he used the phrase, it meant Conservative Christian vs. Liberal Secular elements in American culture. There have been some major moves made in that respect, the rise of Fox News and CBN for example. The popularity of movies based on the Left Behind series prompted distribution by Sony. Still, the mass media hasn’t really addressed the many issues important to Buchanan, especially immigration.The reason is simple. Voters are divided on the issue of immigration along class lines. The folks that run the major media are either wealthy themselves or dependent on advertising revenue from corporate interests. American media is also largely controlled by de facto cartels. Both major print publications and broadcasting depend on corporate advertising. Cable and film are tightly controlled media outlets that also have major elements of advertising revenue. The big exception is books. People chose what they buy. Major outlets like Barnes and Nobel and Borders share the book market with internet outlets like Amazon.com.
We at VDARE.com have prominent, best selling non-fiction writers among our ranks. Still, for most folks, books mean fiction. Novels that address immigration are often a bit on the "cheesy" side and aimed at niche audiences like frustrated young males. Snooker Glen is a serious novel that addresses immigration issues and is aiming for an enduring literary market.
I reviewed Snooker Glen at Amazon.com where the sales department compared Snooker Glen to the writings of Dostoevsky and other Russian writers. Under Czarist Russia, much of the news press was fairly controlled(although one of my University of Chicago professors that lived during the Czarist period said that writing of any major political position was easily available in the major cities). Writers wanting to make a major point about the social order could most easily do so via works of fiction.
The point of Snooker Glen is that the current conditions of immigration policy are for many Americans horribly oppressive. Its message is highly populist and sidesteps a lot of the ideological divisions we see among supporters of immigration restriction.
This is a book FAIR reviewed positively that you could order in bulk for your local libraries and schools-and the typical librarian simply couldn’t peg as "hate speech". You could give it as an obligatory Christmas or birthday gift to pro-immigration relatives whether Democrat, Republican or Independent without getting an eyebrow raised. Snooker Glen raises questions and issues that are taboo in Corporate Media’s news outlets. It does so much more directly than books like Fast Food Nation have done. In the battle for ideas, corporate media relies on drowning out thought. Once the questions are publicly raised, half the battle is won.
I'd like to see this side of the popular culture develop to the point that VDARE.com really could have a credible literary section — and a film and music section as well. We are a long way from that point. In the meantime, we have Snooker Glen.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.