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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 30, 2024

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People will still hem and haw, and not accept violence RIGHT THIS SECOND is called for, and that we should feel anguish and moral scorn every second we're delayed by practical realities, eternally filled with fury, humiliation, and longing, with sharpened knives and hearts of hatred for the day of justice and vengeance.

Dude, your schtick is old. You aren't outraged by a bunch of girls being raped. You are constantly telling people on Twitter that they should be starting the Final War over immigration, over DEI, over vaccines, over television license checkers, over whatever you think will get some traction today. That's your whole grift. Internet Tough Guy dialed up to 11.

I don't think anyone should take you seriously, and not because I dislike your constant agitating for violence and race war, but because it's so self-evidently as performative and fake as your "catgirl" persona, which so many of your Twitter followers inexplicably seem to have bought. Go figure.

Your rage, your demands for ACTION, are performative. You wrote in this space once a rant directed at pro-lifers that went something like (paraphrasing from memory) "Why don't you do something about it, you pussies?"

Well, why don't you do something about it? Oh, you're posting on Twitter. Am I supposed to believe that out in the real world you're doing manly violent things and preparing for The Day? I don't.

I have no doubt you want people to do what you say, so you can praise them and take credit for it. But where are your feats, your accomplishments? What have you done, besides praising Russia and calling Jews poison and publishing links to a bunch of crappy old Paladin Press books?

Your grift is entertaining, I will give you that. But it's still a grift, and less entertaining when I consider how many unstable types there are whom you are trying to set off.

Almost as annoying is how frequently and shamelessly you misunderstand (or just manufacture) facts about everything from history to ancient Greek mythology, but whatever.

I believe absolutely that you, personally, do not walk the walk and are never going to walk it. What is your bodycount, as you keep demanding of everyone else who is upset about something but hasn't yet truck-bombed a government building?

You are not Thanos and no one is dying for you. Stop trying to make Fetch happen. It's not going to happen.

Anyway, I should probably ban you - this reads like a swan song and intentional "suicide by mod," and it's very clearly a (poor) attempt at recruiting for a cause, and it's surely fedpost adjacent. But I'm not going to, because I want you to prove me right - you can't stay away and you'll come back to repeat the schtick. Other mods might decide differently, though.

I don't think anyone should take you seriously, and not because I dislike your constant agitating for violence and race war, but because it's so self-evidently as performative and fake as your "catgirl" persona, which so many of your Twitter followers inexplicably seem to have bought. Go figure.

I could buy that the Motte-posting ancap Kulak was just saying things he actually believed in a spicy way, but yeah, the catgirl Twitter fasho Kulak just seems like the product of constantly iterating one's online persona to appeal to newfound followers.

But where are your feats, your accomplishments? What have you done, besides praising Russia and calling Jews poison and publishing links to a bunch of crappy old Paladin Press books?

Hey, he rode a motorcycle around and camped outdoors that one time, that's gotta count for something

Well, why don't you do something about it? Oh, you're posting on Twitter. Am I supposed to believe that out in the real world you're doing manly violent things and preparing for The Day? I don't.

I don't know KR all that well; could you elaborate on why you are so confident?

One of the examples that comes to mind, albeit loosely, was the Covid Canada trucker protests, which were the generally peaceful protests of Canadian truckers just driving into various Canadian cities / border crossings to snarl traffic and such. It was a bit embarassment to the Trudeau government, which took escalating actions against them, including probably to almost certainly illegal government actions on top of the already-contestable nature of COVID restrictions.

KR at the time was arguing vehemently on not just the justification for, but moral requirement, for violent resistance to the Canadian government crackdown, including the sort of over-the-top accusations of the moral rectitude or sincerity of anyone who did not join in the violence.

IIRC, KR was posting from Canada at the time, or at least acknowledged he could have gotten there, and could easily have easily joined the protests himself. He didn't.

In fact, I want to say he also made some sort of appeal about how he could do more good in rallying for the cause than joining the fight, but there are a lot of deleted posts from those old reddit threads and it wouldn't really change the point.

KR is the sort of revolutionary vanguard who will never, ever, be found in the vanguard, even as he lambasts the masculinity/morality of others who don't answer the call. Cause, you know, the vanguard is dangerous, and his skills (and comfortable living) come from writing calls to action rather than taking action.

IIRC KR was in the hospital during the protests, and has referenced hospitalization around the right time in many other writings.

Yeah, I remember that. True Canadian girlfriend / 'I totally would enlist but medical deferral' vibes.

'I totally would enlist but medical deferral'

You reminded me to check whether the Reserve would, in fact, take me (I'm guessing the answer is "no", but...).

I can't answer that, but I would sincerely say that just because they wouldn't take you doesn't mean there aren't plenty of worthy public service volunteer activities you can do regardless. They don't come with the paycheck or prestige, but taking one half-day a month to clean litter from public places (cost- pair of gloves, some trashbags, and a litter-picker), help with a public festival setup, or even just visiting a retirement center to entertain the elderly are all worthy parts of contributing to a community and one's own spiritual/moral/civic health. Especially if you are in a position to help organize and lead others to contribute the same.

Strangely, fewer people have a desire to burn down their communities if they've spent sweat and hours making it better, and tend to have better feelings towards those who have similarly exerted themselves in shared efforts.

In this specific case, I believe him because other writings have referenced hospitalization from a motorcycle accident at around the right time, without drawing a connection to the trucker protests.

You don't get to call in sick with a doctor's note the day you're supposed to do the suicide bombing

I can believe that it's hard to do a suicide bombing when you're in traction with both your legs broken, but it was hardly the only opportunity to do some minecraft.

Oh, I'm quite willing to entertain that he was in the hospital, though I would also be willing to believe he publicized the claim to protect himself from charges of hypocrisy. I just find it degrades his point regardless- both because arguments that certain things are worth going to hospital (or jail) over fighting for is an argument for fighting out of the hospital you're already in (if he was physically capable of leaving), and because even if he was incapacitated for the time he was in the hospital, that in no way covers the opportunities of protest-fights he had a chance to join in before or after his claimed infirmity.

Ultimately, people who argue that others should accept the consequences to life and limb to prove their sincerity don't get to hide behind infirmity.

your "catgirl" persona, which so many of your Twitter followers inexplicably seem to have bought

Wait, do some people believe Kulak is female lol?

Yeah, a lot of Substack subscribers do. Good gig if you can get it.

Many even accused him of being a female furry which is just funny.

Yes, which is a strange and sad indictment of his audience. At first, I didn’t believe it myself.