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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 17, 2025

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There was a land acknowledgement to the Comanche at SXSW this year, which is pretty crazy considering the stuff they did

On the one hand, the Comanche territory didn't come within 500 miles of Austin until after they had Spanish-descended horses to conquer it with, and it's pretty ridiculous and racist for the bleeding-hearts to bemoan the fact that Texas doesn't belong to those conquerors rather than to their conquerors' conquerors. I'd paraphrase it as "Those Natives are all alike, right? Who cares when one of their tribes is dispossessed by another of their tribes; it's like flipping a two-headed coin!", except that would suggest a verbal rationalization and I doubt anyone made it past a non-verbal gut feeling.

On the other hand, despite the ridiculous intention of the land acknowledgement, I feel like the Comancheria people would have been the sort to appreciate what the land acknowledgement means de facto. "You took this land from us, and you're not giving it back, and you're so confident about your conquest that you're willing to rub it in, at public festivals, while our descendants live among you? Impressive. Kudos!"