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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   34139 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 29, 2024

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I mean yes, it would be a good strategy for the Jews in Israel to move to America if they desire to be part of a massive hegemon well liked by its smaller neighbors. If they wish to remain a small, ethnically distinct enclave then they will have problems with this situation.

Further, Germany would definitely be a threat to any of its neighbors, if it weren't for the EU, which makes it less than beneficial for Germany to do so. France didn't keep Germany down by grinding it into a permanently dependent statelet with no power and no independence, rather they built a mutually beneficial structure for European integration in which Germans have been prime beneficiaries. The punitive theory failed and was discredited after Versailles. The idea of German revanchism for Alsace-Lorraine is silly, because any German that wanted to do so could move there tomorrow. Germany's and Japan's participation in Washington Consensus institutions is what keeps them on the leash, not permanent occupation.

Alas, my half serious suggestion of settling the Zionists near Zion National Park and having them share the American Zion state with the Mormons was never considered a real option.

I’d take that deal. Utah’s fantastic, and mormons are way better than haredim. I would prefer a slightly more northern location though, but that’s just haggling.

I'd always figured that if our Jewish friends can't figure out how to get along with the Mormons than I will change my mind about the neighborly qualities of Arab Muslims.

Well, I'm just n=1, but my family (wife and a bunch of kids) and I spent a good while in Utah and found it easy to integrate - adjusting a bit for the cultural differences between Israelis and Americans in general. My wife still keeps in touch with a couple of our Mormon ex-neighbors. They left a great impression on me - very polite, generally nice, and industrious. Ex-Mormons gave me the same impression, only they'd go for a coffee break with me.

There are also a couple of small Jewish communities in Utah, but I find American Jews to be a bit weird, so we had a harder time integrating with the local congregation.

Adam Corolla used to do a standup bit that they could settle it if the whole thing was just moved to Baja, because people are happier in Baja.

I used to listen to Carolla's podcast damned near daily when I worked in lab, it one of the first podcasts I'd ever really listened to. At some point, it got a little repetitive, and I started to feel like he inserted too many right-wing talking points and was kind of a hack about it. A decade later, it turns out that as a California guy a couple decades older than me, he'd just had more time and opportunity to get sick of the bullshit and that in due time I would be every bit sick of people like Gavin Newsom and Antonio ViaRetardo as Carolla was.

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