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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 29, 2024

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I think this is a large part if the issue. Even those who are hired to stop theft in a venue are for all intents and purposes forbidden to do their jobs, often by the fear of lawsuits or other reprisals. This makes criminals much less worried about getting caught, and much more likely to resort to crime as the best option. Even cops are often forced to simply watch until the crime has been done and the criminal has gotten away before being allowed to act. With such policies, those who don’t want to be victims of crime need to basically defy the laws in order to protect themselves and others and frankly their businesses.

Which is where this is going to end up, sooner or later. People fed up with being victimized will take it upon themselves to administer justice, and no matter what the laws actually say, people will be armed. That’s what happens when the law doesn’t protect people for whatever reason. The common people arm themselves and protect themselves.

Which is where this is going to end up, sooner or later. People fed up with being victimized will take it upon themselves to administer justice, and no matter what the laws actually say, people will be armed.

People have been prosecuted for defending themselves in a tense situation in a non-premeditated way. If you're caught being in an armed vigilante gang in places like NY...

Normal, prosocial people have shit to lose. By definition, they're much easier to cow than nihilistic criminal sociopaths and high impulsivity druggies and morons.

This is why I never skip out on jury duty.

Where this actually ends up is non-state institutions taking on core state functions and the police just letting them.

In the US where clans are dying out and confined to parts of the rural south, these non-state institutions are almost uniformly criminal gangs themselves. Protection money will become a regular business cost and lumpenproles will be intimidated by bikers(who have a slight human capital advantage because you have to be at least lower working class to join, due to the requirement of buying a motorcycle).

Would you recommend going with the Norteños or the Sureños? I like that the Norteños are a local business, but the Sureños have a great introductory deal going on right now ($5 monthly DoorDash credit!) and are offering lower interest rates for their BNPL program. Or maybe both, to hedge my bets?