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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 6, 2025

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If, all things considered, you preferred Trump to Harris, notwithstanding Trump’s election lies, encouragement of violence, and promises to let the perpetrators off the hook, then that’s your right.

On Elections: Kamala Harris became the presidential nominee without without participating in or winning any primary elections. They essentially just made her the nominee and everyone kind of went along with it.

One encouragement of violence: Kamala in 2020 during the riots - "They're not gonna stop. And this is a movement, I'm telling you. They're not gonna stop. And everyone beware, because they're not gonna stop before Election Day in November, and they're not gonna stop after Election Day. And that should be—everyone should take note of that, on both levels, that they're not gonna let up, and they should not, and we should not."

On promises to let perpetrators off the hook: In 2020, Kamala Harris spoke to Jacob Blake on the phone and visited Kenosha where she called for systemic change and justice and condemned the police shooting of Blake. Blake was a felon who resisted arrest, then reached for the floorboard of his car where a knife was located while police were right behind him. Back in June of that year, she told people to chip in to the Minnesota Freedom Fund that was posting bail for protestors and rioters. This year, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates.

But what disturbs me is the extent to which the entire conservative movement has retconned not just the events of four years ago, but their own reactions to those events, such that these days, to be disturbed by them is considered some form of lib hysteria." At what point are Trump's allies tacitly seconding accusations that Trump is an authoritarian and his "movement" a cult of personality, by treating him as though the accusations are true?

It is true that the conservative movement has attempted to retcon plenty of easily-identifiable and unsavory behavior, and that Trump is a justifiable lightning rod for many of it. What bothers people like myself about the other side though is that same lack of accountability for bad policy, but with an extra layer that involves them aligning with progressives who are committed to unraveling the culture of Western society. This sort of thing is occurring outside of Washington too, which is what makes it so much worse. All of our institutions have been heavily captured by this brand of progressivism and it has swept across the country and contributed to what I see as this unraveling.

Another thing that bothers me about these progressives is the real-time "retconning" or redefining that occurs when another progressive policy or movement is injected into the mainstream. There's always this air of plausible deniability or deflection when they start doing something. "You see, this thing we're doing, we're not actually doing it." or "Why do you care so much?" "DEI isn't prioritizing one race over another." To them, an action has a different definition depending who has committed it. When a conservative slaps you in the face, it's a slap. A progressive, on the other hand, strikes you in the face with the palm of their hand in defense against oppression.

It has been the constant play on words, the effective racialism or group scapegoating, the overt thumb on the scales in favor of "marginalized groups," the self-critiquing of our own traditions and not others, etc. Overall, it's these actions and arguments that all seem to stem from an "idea" or branch of critical theory that has attached itself to the brains of Western liberals. It's that "idea" that I'm against.

So, I think the difference between us might be that, for me, the negatives associated with Trump and conservatives are less significant than the broader impact of that "idea" on our society today.

Kamala Harris became the presidential nominee without without participating in or winning any primary elections. They essentially just made her the nominee and everyone kind of went along with it.

This is absurd. Intra-party democracy is not an essential part of a democratic society. The open (in the broad rather then technical sense) primary is a relatively recent development in relatively few nations, so unless you believe the near every democracy except America since the 1970s was in some way deficient or illegitimate these two are not at all equivalent.

They're not gonna stop. And this is a movement, I'm telling you. They're not gonna stop. And everyone beware, because they're not gonna stop before Election Day in November, and they're not gonna stop after Election Day. And that should be—everyone should take note of that, on both levels, that they're not gonna let up, and they should not, and we should not."

Even if this was contemporaneous with the riots, it was not about the riots, it was in context clearly about protests - and crucially, unlike Trump she was totally unambiguous when she condemned violence, unlike Trump who, even when he told people to go home, still spent 90% of the time whining about losing the election.

We must always defend peaceful protest and peaceful protestors. We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice.

Here she makes a clear statement that rioters have no part in her coalition. Trump treated the Capitol rioters as misunderstood patriots.

This year, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates.

This is such a strange comparison to make I can't tell if you're being serious.

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Even if this was contemporaneous with the riots, it was not about the riots, it was in context clearly about protests - and crucially, unlike Trump she was totally unambiguous when she condemned violence, unlike Trump who, even when he told people to go home, still spent 90% of the time whining about losing the election.

Everyone on the left was doing this motte-and-bailey in 2020 and it angered me to no end. I had to worry about where I parked and which routes to take to avoid getting stopped for hours, surrounded, or have my car destroyed by BLM - whether you call them "protestors" or "rioters", I don't care. The two often bled into each other. And I was terrified that the protests would spread from downtown out to where I lived. They can all go to hell.

Of course Kamala condemned violence... but then she raises money for a bail fund for people that were arrested for violent acts during a "protest"/"riot". Watch the actions, not the words.

Your entire reply to me is a series of examples of you demonstrating the exact point I was making about retconning. I'm not even sure if your comment is real.

I typed out a longer reply, but I don't think I want to have this back and forth. You make patently false statements and you have a petulant Redditor tone that I loathe.