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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 12, 2022

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Didn't you raise an eyebrow at me for a comment implying Meghan Murphy was right wing?

I don't know if you deleted your comment and this is why my links don't work, or it's some website gremlins (definitely most likely gremlins, I swear I saw the comment a moment ago.), but this is my comment where I said:

Give me a break. They banned James Lindsay for saying "ok, groomer" too much, Meghan Murphy for "misgendering" the "wax my feminine balls" guy before there even was a rule against misgendering, gimmick accounts like Journo's Posting L's. They absolutely go out of their way to censor anyone who is making an impact, or looks like they might. The people they let stay are there for plausible deniabiity.

And this was my response to a reponse to the above comment:

She had an event in a library in Austin a few months ago, and from the people protesting it, you'd get the impression she's basically Hitler.

But my actual point is that the Twitter censorship regime is so strict you don't even have be right wing to get booted, any mild transgression against wokeness can get you banned, especially if they see you having an impact.

And I'm pretty sure directly between the two there was you saying something to the effect of "Meghan Murphy is right wing now?". And now you're saying all commies who are against double mastectomies for 13 year olds are actually MAGA?

Huh? No, I'm not saying that, but there are people identifying as communist - like the aforementioned Hinkle - who, judging by their current feed, really don't much differ from MAGA apart from their support for some official American enemy states like PRC and North Korea (the latter which, of course, Trump made overtures towards during his reign).

Ok, but people like Hinkle also existing doesn't address the point I was raising.

Sounds like several things are being conflated here:

  • Populist vs elitist

  • Activist vs status quo

  • Down-to-earth vs refined and cultured

  • Freedom vs regulation

  • Traditions of folk vs commerce-legible lifestyles

  • Living from history’s example vs putting history in the rear view mirror

  • Individualism vs collectivism

  • Genders according to a reproduction instinct vs a sexual pleasure instinct

These have each been red-coded/blue-coded at some times and politically coded at others.

Of these, the Democrats’ switch to elitism (for example) was as sudden as the Black vote switching after Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.