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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 6, 2023

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So why does the terminally online alt-right link itself to Trump so much?

It's funny.

The terminally online right, much like the terminally online left, does not actually have a principled set of ideas that they're operating on. They don't have a central governing ethos, there is no set of principles to live by. There are vibes and there is owning the left. The more trad you are the better your vibes, and the more you own the libs the more trad you are. Does trad actually mean owning property, having a loving family, being kind, respectful, and upright in your moral beliefs? No! It means posting memes about "tfw no land" or "tfw no tradwife" or "tfw cities bad" or some such nonsense. Trump makes the left mad. Therefore Trump good. Do no further analysis than this. Go far enough right and you get to the wignats who call him ZionDon or whatever because he doesn't want to "gas the kikes race war now" and even they will laugh at the orange man's antics because he makes the left mad, and making the left mad is pretty much all the terminally online right actually believes in.

Does trad actually mean owning property, having a loving family, being kind, respectful, and upright in your moral beliefs? No!

Shoot, I guess I've been doing it wrong, because the general trad discourse strongly encouraged me to stop being a single hedonist, get married, buy a house, have kids, and get serious about religion and stronger social bonds to my community.

Well at least now you know and can divorce your wife, sell your house, abandon your kids, and focus on what really matters. Getting a good like/retweet ratio.

A simplistic theory, but there's something to be said for it.

This is pretty much correct. The entire political online discourse is now "what can I do/say/believe that will make my outgroup mad?"

The last several years are best modelled as a massive, distributed search for ways to hurt the outgroup as badly as possible without getting in too much trouble.