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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 9, 2023

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Expand a word's definition enough and you end up with a useless word and a smug feeling.

At 5 we cross from slavery as I expect a reasonable person to understand it to subjecthood (as in "subject of the Crown", perhaps).

Right. At 4, the slave is still beaten for not picking cotton, and has to live on the master's plantation. At 5, the slave can move to LA and pay for a fourth of an apartment by working as a plumber, buy a laptop, get a girlfriend or a boyfriend, and start posting a lot on Tumblr, and maybe even quit their job as a plumber if they get enough fanart commissions. This really is a substantial difference, and is much of what people would object to about slavery. (I'd rather be able to decide my occupation and place of residence but be beaten sometimes than the opposite). The best arguments for voting, liberal democracy, etc are that it preserves the substantive rights and abilities that people gain between 2 and 5.