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professorgerm

clutching my imitation pearls

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joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC 

				
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professorgerm


								
								
									
								
								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
clutching my imitation pearls

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 1157


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fair enough; how much role did the US play in influencing the EU's structuring?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


beer-and-titties loving Hispanic shithole




A little blunt for a resort name, but at least you know what you're getting.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
tbf not being American does seem to be the primary Canadian identity marker, followed by being suicidally 'nice' and saying "eh" a lot as you bathe in maple syrup.


But not nearly as long-term as the Vietnamese identity.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Everyone enormously underestimates Europe.




Importing masses of net-negative people with no interest in assimilation, no interest from above on assimilating or otherwise dealing with them (Denmark excluded, sure), and seemingly no sufficiently strong sense of a cultural mythos willing to accept the tragic mode of politics looks like a fair set of reasons to underestimate Europe. Managed decline and moral signaling was a choice, and so they can make a new choice, but is it too late?


Maybe Macron or some other French leader could step up with an iron fist and pave a new path for Europe and European identity, but it would require a lot more sacrifice and suffering than the average European has any guts for (says the American, of course).


What's the actual path from here to there that isn't just exchanged the US for China as the new boss? How do they regain a cultural attitude that actually justifies the smugness instead of running off century-old fumes?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


At best, they’re hoping Trumpism will be gone in three years and they can go back to business as usual.




Pretty safe bet imo, good choice on civilizational time scales.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Europe neutered itself after the war, and it turns out Fukuyama was wrong (or rather, everyone ignored his hedging at the end). They get mulched either way because they gave up any semblance of civilizational power; now, do they want to be burgers or mapo tofu?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It is now, but for a long time it was taken as (relatively) sincere.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


respecting the rights of protestors




Is obstruction a protestor's right? Are they truly that protected of a class that they can do basically whatever they want? The whole conflation of action and speech really went off the rails somewhere along the way.




If you don't have buy-in from the local populace, police, or political system, it's a feature of the system that that makes things difficult, not a bug.




We should build a wall around Minnesota instead of Mexico.


Also the results of the last event of insufficient buy-in from the local political system was putting them down by the hundreds of thousands and telling states' rights to get fucked. Federalism won the day, baby!




The response of an authoritarian to this problem is to send in the jackboots.




Was Eisenhower wrong to federalize the guard?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


American culture is not the Red Tribe




Agreed.




a general failure to model their adversaries' preferences




It would be easier if they'd be honest about their preferences and the consequences thereof.




libs are happy to celebrate* the space program




In theory, perhaps, or historically. Libs are at the forefront of the anti-moon crew. If you want to argue Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the New York Times aren't really libs, fine, but that's one of the flaws to the two-party system.


Being proud of WW2 is much more of a conservative dad or granddad thing; young libs don't even like Churchill.


The civil rights movement is the founding myth of modern liberal-progressives, yes; a magic they don't know how to recapture.


The primary example that comes to mind is, i repeat myself, Ilhan Omar. A hateful creep that has achieved wildly more success than she could have in her home country, and uses it primarily shit on the country that welcomed her and support the country she left. It is unfair to extend this to the whole of "the libs," of course; a lot of that is negativity bias. But "the libs" had years to come up with a good narrative about America already being great, and they fumbled it over and over because... I don't really know why. For the party that's supposed to be the smartest, most talented, chock full to the brim with marketers and storytellers, they really fell on their face against what shouldn't be that hard of a question.


Biden spent more time apologizing for calling a murderer the wrong euphemism than expressing sympathy for the victim! If that's what liberal tribalism and preferences get us, then I don't know what's worth redeeming there.


edited


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I like this answer. Thank you.


My concern is that we've had too many people chewing away at numbers 1 and 5 for decades, and that the confidence is really hard to regain. In trying to account for the past failure of Point 2, we ate away at Point 1 as well.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


People tend to be pretty blunt and outspoken, and are happy to tell you their thoughts on whatever is in the news lately without much filter.




Was about to get a little chuffy on this one, being in the South and the "bless your heart" cliche coming to mind, before I caught it was under politics. And that point I was thinking of is under your 'Geography,' good catch on the closed-off-ness.


Yeah, I think this is a great broad-strokes; really, a lot more detail than I expected anyone to reply with! Thank you kindly.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it happened because broad segments of the population across the political spectrum were disgusted by what happened to Floyd.




"Because they wanted to feel righteous and didn't care about the consequences thereof" is no less accurate of an alternative.




There was a moment at the end of the Biden administration where I thought there was relatively broad bipartisan agreement that something needed to be done about immigration




Trying to reverse course and throw 10 hail marys in the last 30 seconds after dicking around the entire game does not provide sufficient stability and support to eke out an agreement.




The right (well, Trump really) chose to score political points instead and unilaterally take a bunch of actions that will be reversed three years from now.




Alas! No nitpicks here. Enjoy Arbys.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Civility. Integrity. Humility. Temperance.




We haven't had a presidential hopeful that embodies those in 14 years, and the predicted hopefuls for the next round don't either. For the failed candidate that had a grain of any of those- well, hard to forget what one of the later shitbags said about him.


So no, I don't think Trump should be found aspirational. But damned if we're not starved for anyone else that can be, and that at least pretends to treat the country as something more than a paypig.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


American culture is awesome




Care to take a stab at defining it?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Liberals are, in general, far more likely to become disappointed/critical if they perceive the US to be failing to live up to its ideals and are far less interested in performative patriotism.




Those ideals being... what, exactly? Does it have any resemblance of a common culture, an actual community of common interest defined in some way other than GDP?


The problem with "far more likely to be critical" is that they seem to never find one godforsaken occasion to be positive.




I find that they are people who have contempt for the history and values of the United States, as well as outright hate for their countrymen.




I can't bring myself to entirely disagree, but you're hard pressed to find a group of similar scale that doesn't have such contempt and outright hate.


Edit:




The latter in particular I think right-wingers tend to mistake for antipathy.




On the topic of contempt and hate, there's a lot of wisdom in the old saw about the opposite of love being indifference, not hate, and I should've kept that in mind here. There is a corrosiveness to indifference and that may be one of the liberal's worst sins, that so many are unable to even recognize. It became too declassee to think that one's country and culture is something to be loved instead of apologized for.


Edit 2:


Ilhan Omar's infamous comments come to mind. And that is what people have in mind when they say liberals don't care about America.


I am not confident enough to define American in a way that I truly find acceptable, but in something of the spirit of Potter Stewart, I am not American in the way she is; if she has a definition at all, it is incompatible.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


"dumb people don't deserve to be happy and safe" is precisely what leftists are afraid of when they try to bury any discourse about the biological basis of IQ




It would help their legitimacy and they wouldn't be smeared that way if the average leftist didn't think there were vast numbers of people that don't deserve to be happy and safe, just defined on other terms.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the most prominent example of eugenics in living memory would be the Nazis.




They're also the primary reason the left distanced itself from eugenics.


The US left still loves Planned Parenthood and Harvard-educated experts; they just like to ignore why Planned Parenthood was started and what Harvard-educated experts said on the topic before the Nazis made the concept verboten.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I like Neal as an actor but yeah, many of his characters are assholes you want to punch in the face, I associate that with him.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
How often are agents provocateurs interfering with ICE? How often do cops have to restrain drug-addled subjects resisting arrest? Both occur pretty regularly, right? Most of the time both situations end up with no consequences; very rarely something bad happens and then it's the cause du jour for a round of mass stupidity.


No amount of training gets you perfection.




regularly escalating situations that could be deescalated




How exactly does one deescalate against people wanting escalation, short of giving up and unilateral disarmament? That's what I mean by expecting perfection.




It would be better if this wasn't the case.




It would be better if protestors didn't interfere. It would be better if we hadn't spent years ignoring the border. It would be better if men were angels and we didn't need government at all.


Alas, people Will Not Just.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not that significant, I just dislike them. I prefer usage taxes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


we're starting a slow society-wide slide into cheering for death




Excuse me, did you miss the "shout your abortion" campaign like a decade ago? The way people reacted to Margaret Thatcher's death?




But only one of those sides is making a habit of claiming immunity, pardoning people left and right




LOL. Also you don't need to claim immunity when your side has the AGs and just won't prosecute to begin with.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fair, better nuance there.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Do you think the administration's reaction to the shooting is a "reasonable path for America"?




When was the last time any administration had any "reasonable path" response to stochastic tragedies? I'm not there's been one since... at least the birth of social media.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think *-isms are bad




Hey now, that moved to the right over the last 10 years. Official left position has long been that -isms are good, as long as they target the right groups.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


That she wasn't there accidentally?




You'd have to believe everyone that knows her, including her wife, is lying to believe there's a chance she was there accidentally. Weird one to include in your list of uncertainties; that she was there deliberately to interfere is like the second-most confident thing anyone can state about this situation.