Culture War is defined as:
A conflict between groups with different ideals, beliefs, philosophies, etc.
That may be strictly so, in terms of how it is used colloquially but it is a superficial explanation. It is not unusual for people who live amongst one another to have different values, views and opinions. Turning them into a “culture war” is a weaponization designed to prevent resolution. The point of framing something as a culture was is to perpetuate the argument and obfuscate negotiation.
Revolutions eliminate the status quo. In the late 1800’s the inhabitants of many countries around the world simultaneously became enamored of nationhood, citizenship and representative government instead of monarchies by aristocratic rule. Consequently, they had revolutions - literally, many times over - until the power establishment was finally overthrown. They were beaten back each time, yet they persisted. And they eliminated the status quo.
Culture Wars are a precursor to revolution. Not right away, not yet. Possibly, a penultimate step.
When the political class is endangered they encourage culture wars because they are preferable to populist revolt. They don’t participate, though, because they live in a different world. They let the rabble tear each other apart as a distraction.
It’s important to ask, then, who exactly is fanning the flames of culture wars and why? Media companies are the step-and-fetch it of their masters.
In the recent Netflix movie, “Mank”, we watch how a media baron, Hearst, uses his media empire as a propaganda machine to undermine the nation in favor of himself and his cronies. Swap Murdoch for Hearst and the story remains the same. We are all puppets and we get played each and every election cycle. The culture war is therefore a distraction, a tool of the media machine.
The next important question is what are the cultural wars distracting everyone from? The real issues and the real solutions require a change to the status quo and thus must be kept far away from the public stage. That would be a threat to the establishment and would undermine their power.