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Hollywood and Cultural Subversion | Part 7 of Eight Steps to Empire: The Culture Wars
Eight Steps to Empire: The Culture Wars is a documentary exploring the concept of imperialism in the modern era. The film looks at the usage of diversion and cultural subversion as mechanisms...

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Hollywood and Cultural Subversion | Part 7 of Eight Steps to Empire: The Culture Wars - Video

Alina Balasoiu, a junior at Lamar High, returns to campus Tuesday after playing in a soccer match in a field behind the school. The school's nickname, Savages, and logo are praised and decried in different circles. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)

LAMAR

Out here on the Eastern Plains, it's a savage country. Tornadoes, hail and blizzards can hit without warning. A prolonged drought has pummeled the economy, with dust storms so severe the schools have closed early twice so buses wouldn't be dropping off kids in blackout conditions.

And now this community 120 miles east of Pueblo finds itself in the harsh glare of the culture wars and in the sights of lawmakers who want to ban the high school's nickname.

"One, two, three, Savages!" members of the Lamar High School track team shouted inside Savage Stadium early this week.

Junior Ivan Villasenor struggled to catch his breath after doing two 200-meter sprints back to back, but he was more than willing to talk about the team's name.

"I love the word 'savages,' " he said. "It shows we're never going to give up. We're striving for a goal and that goal is greatness."

The sentiment is shared throughout this ranching town 45 miles from the Kansas state line. Faded yearbooks document a team name that has been in use for more than a century and has survived questions in recent decades about whether displaying "Savages" on school uniforms and gym floors is offensive.

The school, which does not identify with any particular tribe, uses a logo of an Indian in a headdress.

State Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, finds the name repugnant. He is co-sponsoring a bill that would require schools with American Indian names or mascots to get approval from a panel of tribal members or else face steep fines. He said the logo is respectful but the name Savages is not. He predicted it would get the boot.

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Lamar, home of the Savages, defends mascot as culture wars rage

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Two Princeton professors with opposing views visited Grand Valley State University on Thursday to talk about finding common ground and civility in discussions.

Cornel West, an activist and public intellectual, and Robert George, a Catholic philosopher of jurisprudence and natural law, have different views on core issues surrounding race, politics and government. The friends discussed how to have productive conversations on divisive topics.

George emphasized approaching arguments with intellectual humility and viewing another person as a conversation partner rather than an adversary. Integrity and honesty are key in any discussion, West said.

Their talk -- "The Culture Wars: A Workable Armistice?" -- was the last American Conversations event of the season at the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University on Thursday, April 2.

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Philosophers Cornel West and Robert George discuss 'culture wars' at GVSU

A demonstrator calls on the state of Indiana to roll back the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, outside the City County Building in Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 30, 2015. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

Lawmakers in Indiana today announced plans for changes to the states new religious freedom law that sparked state and nationwide outrage. Lawmakers in Arkansas are debating revisions to a similar bill that has also been the focus of heavy criticism.

Both bills, critics say, would allow discrimination, particularly against gays and lesbians. So what do these laws, and the backlash over them, say about the social and cultural moment were in right now?

This is the subject of Times new cover story, Freedom Fight: How a showdown over religion and gay rights is changing the culture war. Here & Nows Jeremy Hobson talks to Elizabeth Dias, a correspondent for Time, and one of the reporters on the story.

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Backlash Over Religious Freedom Laws Marks New Moment In Culture Wars

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) says his state will "correct" the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, saying the law "does not give anyone a license deny services to gay and lesbian couples." (Reuters)

The national debate over an Indiana religious-liberties law seen as anti-gay has drawn the entire field of Republican presidential contenders into the divisive culture wars, which badly damaged Mitt Romney in 2012 and which GOP leaders eagerly sought to avoid in the 2016 race.

Most top Republican presidential hopefuls this week have moved in lock step, and without pause, to support Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) and his Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which has prompted protests and national calls for boycotts by major corporations.

In Arkansas on Tuesday, Republican legislators approved a similar measure that Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) is expected to sign. The action prompted the chief executive of Arkansas-based Wal-Mart to ask Hutchinson to veto the bill, saying that it does not reflect the values we uphold.

The agreement among the likely GOP candidates illustrates the enduring power of social conservatives in early-voting states such as Iowa and South Carolina, which will help determine who emerges as the partys nominee next year.

But the position puts the Republican field out of step with a growing national consensus on gay rights, handing Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats a way to portray Republicans as intolerant and insensitive. Some Republicans also fear that Indiana is only the first in a series of brush fires that could engulf the party as it struggles to adapt to the nations rapidly changing demographics and social mores.

All eyes are on Indiana after Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed a controversial religious freedom bill into law. The Posts Sarah Pulliam Bailey explains what's in the law and why there's so much opposition to it. (Pamela Kirkland/The Washington Post)

At a news conference Tuesday, Pence a potential long-shot presidential candidate himself strongly defended the Indiana statute, which grants individuals and businesses legal grounds to defend themselves against claims of discrimination. But he also said the state would fix the law to make clear that it does not give license to businesses to deny services to anyone.

Pence insisted that it was never the laws intent to allow discrimination I abhor discrimination, he said repeatedly although he acknowledged that negative perceptions have taken a rapid toll on Indianas reputation and economic development.

[Read Dan Balz: Indiana and the defining divisions in American politics]

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Indiana law draws Republican White House hopefuls into the ...