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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 8, 2024

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I can definitely see this.

If it is the Truth, I feel genuine pity for both of them. Living life with, "Because fuck you! that's why!" as your primary motivator has to be constant chaos.

Someone who mostly wants to be happy can find a low-intensity job and raise a family. Someone who embraces gluttony and lust have much easier paths to satisfy those urges than high level politics.

Bitterness and hatred, however, are impossible to satisfy, and the only thing that even approaches satisfying them is wielding power over your enemies.

Yes, basically. My life makes me happy, but hatred is an entirely separate category. There's no amount of money you could give me to make me stop hating the things I hate, because I hate them for a reason, not because I'm dissatisfied with my bank account/sex life/penis size/whatever sneer is being used.

The idea that "hateful people are just upset about something else/losers/defective deplorables that belong in camps" is just a scummy leftist tactic to distract from people's real, valid grievances. Bulverism, pathologizing dissent, whatever you want to call it.

I'm sure Trump and Biden (and Musk) are similar. They have a drive for power or status or change that isn't satisfied by living the good life or having lots of stuff.