Chuck Klosterman Quote

Up until the mid-eighties, there was always a shared assumption that the Right controlled the currency of outrage; part of what made conservatives conservative was their discomfort with profanity and indecency and Elvis Presley’s hips. But then — somewhat swiftly, and somehow academically — it felt as if the Left was suddenly dictating what was acceptable to be infuriated over (and always for ideological motives, which is why the modifier politically felt essential). This created a lot of low-level anxiety whenever people argued in public.

Chuck Klosterman

Up until the mid-eighties, there was always a shared assumption that the Right controlled the currency of outrage; part of what made conservatives conservative was their discomfort with profanity and indecency and Elvis Presley’s hips. But then — somewhat swiftly, and somehow academically — it felt as if the Left was suddenly dictating what was acceptable to be infuriated over (and always for ideological motives, which is why the modifier politically felt essential). This created a lot of low-level anxiety whenever people argued in public.

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About Chuck Klosterman

Charles John Klosterman (; born June 5, 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for Esquire and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for The New York Times Magazine. Klosterman is the author of twelve books, including two novels and the essay collection Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. He was awarded the ASCAP Deems Taylor award for music criticism in 2002.