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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 7, 2025

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Again with the absurdity through inappropriate narrowing of scope.

How can you tell when your scope is appropriately widened? Okay, the purpose of the bus system isn't to emit CO2. Is the purpose to do that and drive vehicles on NYC streets? Is the purpose to do that and pay out bennies to bus drivers? Is it to do that and move paying customers around? Is it to do that and also house a few homeless people? Is it to do that and reduce traffic overall?

And we can't look at the bus system in isolation, right? It's part of the city government, which itself is embedded in layers of government and society. Why is it not inappropriate to even attempt to analyze the purpose of the NYC bus system in isolation of the entire world?

At least I agree that we can limit our scope to planet earth, since there doesn't seem to be any agency being exercised by anyone outside of it. The question is where to set the scope in between busses emitting CO2 and everything that goes on on earth.