Well I was going to write a really stupid, lighthearted post critiquing people’s outfits at the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally today.

I should have known better.

Of course it was going to be attacked by Antifa, and of course the Alt-Lite would use this as yet another excuse to punch right, and (not of course) people died there today. The political violence has finally escalated to the point where people are dying. That makes my plans for a post that boils down to “LOL WHY DID THESE GUYS PICK POLO SHIRTS THEY LOOK LIKE SUCH DORKS BUT AT LEAST THEY’RE OUR GUYS” seem really petty and obnoxious and tone deaf in comparison.

Funny how an event that was supposed to be about unity has caused even more fractures amongst right-leaning groups.

What good could possibly come of a post like that?

I know that the culture wars are real, and that politics is downstream of culture, and that to have any hope of surviving, the right needs to get itself together in terms of culture.

When I try to talk to regular conservatives about how I don’t care so much about gay marriage or abortion rights as I do about economic policy and border security, I usually go with an analogy about not caring about the color of the drapes when the house is on fire. Being worried about bailing technique when the boat is sinking. Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Whatever.

So writing about visual things, about fashion and style, and all of that fluffy stuff that doesn’t really matter seems to be a complete waste of time.

But then I remember that sometimes it’s the lighthearted things that people latch onto first.

That our manner of dress and writing, the way we design our buildings and workspaces, our style of living reflects our mindset and worldview.

That people sometimes change from the inside-out, but often change from the outside-in, and the fluffy visual trappings can help with that process.

That we’re always told, “If you don’t find what you want to read, write it yourself.” (I’d rather just read it, but here I am anyway.)

My goal is to bridge aesthetics and Truth, anyway. I believe that Truth is somewhere right of what’s currently “center.” Where exactly, I don’t know yet.

This latest bubbling-up of right-leaning people who are willing to fight is encouraging, and they’ve gone so far a to get someone like Trump elected president. But there’s still time for them to go the way of the Tea Party. I hope that never happens, but one never knows.

And I’m sitting here worried that I’m not doing the right thing, when this blog is still 100% obscure so it doesn’t really matter LMAO.

What idiots we humans are!