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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   28230 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 23, 2023

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You should value statues of Lee because you should value peace. You should value the idea that there is a limit to warfare and strife, that the sword can be sheathed, that people who have fought to the death can reconcile, that bloody civil war can in fact end. It can do this because the people fighting it did not perceive the conflict to be existential, and so at some point they were willing to stop. That is a rare and profoundly valuable virtue, and one that people should not treat with disdain.

Why? It seems clear the idea is not true -- both the woke and the Palestinians vs. Israelis demonstrate this. If when I'm in power I treat my defeated enemies magnanimously, and when they're in power they crush me under their boot indefinitely, then their victories will be lasting and permanent and mine will be precarious and fleeting.

If you cannot make peace with an enemy, you had better win. If you cannot make peace with any enemy, if every conflict you engage in inevitably becomes existential, if the mere fact that the other side is willing to fight you means they must be exterminated, you are already doomed.

If you cannot make peace with any enemy, if every conflict you engage in inevitably becomes existential, if the mere fact that the other side is willing to fight you means they must be exterminated, you are already doomed.

Only if you eventually lose. If every conflict you engage in inevitably becomes existential, but you win them all, eventually you exterminate everyone else, and the whole world is yours.

If you cannot make peace with an enemy, you had better win.

If you can't make peace with an enemy, but your enemy has scruples, you don't need to win. If you lose he'll leave you alone to try again. If you lose that, he'll leave you alone for a third try. Repeat until you eventually win.

Repeat until you eventually win.

Or your enemy runs out of scruples, of course.

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