This Important Admission of Ignorance Is Very Telling

It has been obvious to me for quite some time–decades, actually–that there is a huge asymmetry in how liberals and conservatives view each other. 

That observation, in itself, is hardly shocking. It is so obvious that there is a common phrase to describe it: “conservatives think that liberals are wrong, but liberals think conservatives are evil.”

But the difference actually goes much deeper. My observation, backed by actual research done by many academics, is that conservatives understand pretty well what and how liberals think, and liberals haven’t got a clue about what and how conservatives think. 

Perhaps that is a good indication that you should refrain from commenting on American politics as if you understand the motives of conservatives.

— David Strom (@DavidStrom) September 22, 2025

The reactions to the Charlie Kirk memorial by conservatives and liberals have, interestingly, opened the eyes of some liberal thinkers to this reality. Some liberals reacted to the memorial as you would expect: they saw a Nazi or KKK rally–bizarrely–in what amounted to a Christian revival meeting filled with speeches celebrating Jesus Christ, marriage, family, and love of country. A diverse crowd united by love appeared to them to be the Nuremberg Rally. 

More thoughtful liberals, and even elite conservatives who are not steeped in the culture of family, faith, and freedom, watched the memorial service and thought more deeply about it, and realized that it was not about hate at all, but also that they simply didn’t understand what it really was about. 

It’s alien to the English is the point. We have both conservatism and Christianity here – they both look very very different though.

— Peter Hague (@peterrhague) September 23, 2025

Watching the Charlie Kirk memorial, I’m struck by how extremely culturally distant I feel from this world. Everything about it feels alien – the aesthetics, symbolism, music, rituals, mythology, gurus, ideas, and norms. It feels like being exposed to the cultural and symbolic universe of a distant tribe. If I reflect on this, it occurs to me that this feeling must be symmetrical – that they must view the kind of cultural universe I inhabit as similarly alien. And in a strange way, despite opposing almost everything about this political project, this reflection makes me feel more empathy for what that project must feel like from the inside.

“What was that?” “Who are these people?” For the most part, politics was not the primary focus of the rally. That truth was captured by the message of Turning Point UK in a post explaining Charlie’s and their message to people, outlining their values. 

All true. Notice that politics are not on the list. That said, politics can be necessary to secure the freedoms to accomplish these things. https://t.co/KzhTJ53qWL

— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) September 21, 2025

Family and God. No mention of politics, because the focus on politics is entirely driven by the deeper values of family, faith, and freedom. Charlie Kirk was an evangelist first, and derivatively focused on politics because the modern left is profoundly hostile to those values. Even their boogyman–Christian nationalism–is more focused on the first half of that phrase than the second. 

These intellectuals realized that they cannot grasp how conservatives think and what really motivates them. Realizing this is a first step to enlightenment, if only a first step. The second step would be realizing that until they do, they should quit trying to analyze conservatives. They simply have no idea what we think and why we think it. 

Conservatives don’t have the luxury of being ignorant of liberal culture, because liberal culture is the dominant culture in America. By that, I am not referring to conservative policies–those are pretty well spelled out–but conservative values that undergird them. What we are trying to conserve is a society in which the government is not an evangelist for leftist values. Most evangelicals would be happy enough to allow the government to waste money if it only left us alone and didn’t steal too much from us. In fact, until Reagan mobilized them, that is what evangelicals did. 

They may have gotten activated when the government got too inefficient or too activist on certain issues, but generally speaking, their lives were focused elsewhere–on family and faith and building a good life and culture. It was only when liberals began using the government as a megaphone to spread a culture hostile to their values that they mobilized. 

It is the decline in our culture that animates the conservative movement, and issues such as tax rates and excessive social programs are downstream from that. Massive social programs have devastated families, and big government makes living independently of government exceedingly difficult. 

Liberals see the public schools propagandizing on social issues, becoming the mental health and values teacher of children, taking over medical care to ensure an abortion culture, and the celebration of sexual pleasure over spiritual fulfillment as building a compassionate society. Conservatives, rightly, see this as an attack on Christianity and other religious values. 

Even the mass immigration agenda is at least partly about weakening American culture. American flags are taken down in schools and replaced by the Transgender Pride flag, and flying an American flag is seen as hateful and offensive to others, while flying a Mexican or Palestinian flag is portrayed as solidarity with diverse cultures. 

Obviously, conservatives see this and recoil, and liberals think the only reason why that could be is hatred. They simply can’t grasp how and why conservatives think as we do. We understand them because we can’t avoid the culture they have created. They own the schools, the colleges, most of the government bureaucracy, and academia. They have the power of culture and coercion to force us to obey in many cases, and to exact punishments when we don’t. 

Liberals will celebrate when the Satanists put up displays in the Minnesota Capitol, not because they worship Satan, but because it is a rebuke to Christians. Worship itself is alien to them–and to many it is repulsive (unless it is Muslim, in which case they admire it as another rebuke to Christianity). 

They don’t understand us at all. They assume bigotry motivates us and nativism is our only motivation for being frightened by the decline of American culture. They see diversity as our strength–a bizarre slogan–and a unifying faith as dangerous. 

Charlie’s message was not “vote Republican” per se. It was cultural:

Get married.

Have children.

Build a legacy.

Pass down your values.

Pursue the eternal.

Seek true joy.

– Charlie Kirk

Charlie was a Republican because he understood that the only way to make those values possible in modern America is to reject the message and policies of the Democrats, who are obsessed with hedonism and anti-natalism. Abortion, sterilizing children, orgies, the cult of the experts and technocracy, globalism, and forcing people to celebrate hostile values (BAKE THAT CAKE, BIGOT!)  are the core of the modern left. 

Liberals don’t understand that everything they do is an assault on our culture, because they don’t understand us at all. 

But we understand them. We can’t avoid it. 

• Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

Help us continue to expose their left-wing bias by reading news you can trust. Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.