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In September 2021, a group of female minority students at Arizona State University confronted two white male students who were studying in the library\u2019s multicultural center.\n\nThe women were upset with what they saw as blatant antagonism: One of the men sported a \u201cDidn\u2019t Vote for Biden\u201d shirt, the other had a \u201cPolice Lives Matter\u201d laptop sticker. The women felt they had chosen the multicultural center in order to rile them. A heated row between both parties erupted, a video of which quickly went viral, threatening to upend the lives of all involved.\n\nFor The New York Times, Sarah Viren, a journalist and essayist, explored the incident in the context of \u201cthe widening gyre of the culture wars.\u201d The row at Arizona State was, she explained, \u201ca symbolic fight,\u201d one that raised questions of \u201cwokeism\u201d and \u201cfree speech,\u201d the perils of viral videos, and the purpose of \u201csafe spaces.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was a brief drama that was also a metaphor,\u201d Ms. Viren wrote. \u201cBut watching and rewatching that drama unfold from my computer, I kept asking myself: a metaphor for what?\u201d