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FarNearEverywhere

undereducated and overopinionated

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joined 2022 September 04 21:27:04 UTC 

				
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FarNearEverywhere


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
undereducated and overopinionated

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 21:27:04 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I mean, I yield to no-one in my admiration for the 13th century, but these guys don't want the hierarchical orderly beauty of the Great Chain of Being, they want some imagined ideal Roman Empire where they're lolling around in togas being Great Thinkers and Masters of the Universe, while getting to order around their inferiors without all of that pesky nonsense about women and foreigners are also children of God.  Where the strong do what they wish and the weak suffer what they must, and they imagine they would be the strong, of course.  They're wrong, and what's even more is that they have no idea how much of what they want has been shaped by the influences of Christianised Western society for centuries, because it's the water these fish are swimming in.


Chesterton wrote about the dream of the ideal beauty and order of hierarchy, the temptation of it, and the way it can be subtly twisted to the wrong, in The Ball and the Cross, and it's a dream that tempts me because it appeals to my own instincts and what I find beautiful, but these types who sneer about 'slave morality' are not even strong enough to lose or humble enough to be proud; they seem to admire the same kind of show of strength that some gang boss in a grubby slum exhibits in a drive-by spray and pray:




As the flying ship swept round the dome he observed other alterations. The dome had been redecorated so as to give it a more solemn and somewhat more ecclesiastical note; the ball was draped or destroyed, and round the gallery, under the cross, ran what looked like a ring of silver statues, like the little leaden images that stood round the hat of Louis XI. Round the second gallery, at the base of the dome, ran a second rank of such images, and Evan thought there was another round the steps below. When they came closer he saw that they were figures in complete armour of steel or silver, each with a naked sword, point upward; and then he saw one of the swords move. These were not statues but an armed order of chivalry thrown in three circles round the cross. MacIan drew in his breath, as children do at anything they think utterly beautiful. For he could imagine nothing that so echoed his own visions of pontifical or chivalric art as this white dome sitting like a vast silver tiara over London, ringed with a triple crown of swords.






As they went sailing down Ludgate Hill, Evan saw that the state of the streets fully answered his companion's claim about the reintroduction of order. All the old blackcoated bustle with its cockney vivacity and vulgarity had disappeared. Groups of labourers, quietly but picturesquely clad, were passing up and down in sufficiently large numbers; but it required but a few mounted men to keep the streets in order. The mounted men were not common policemen, but knights with spurs and plume whose smooth and splendid armour glittered like diamond rather than steel. Only in one place—at the corner of Bouverie Street—did there appear to be a moment's confusion, and that was due to hurry rather than resistance. But one old grumbling man did not get out of the way quick enough, and the man on horseback struck him, not severely, across the shoulders with the flat of his sword.






“The soldier had no business to do that,” said MacIan, sharply. “The old man was moving as quickly as he could.”






“We attach great importance to discipline in the streets,” said the man in white, with a slight smile.






“Discipline is not so important as justice,” said MacIan.






The other did not answer.






Then after a swift silence that took them out across St. James's Park, he said: “The people must be taught to obey; they must learn their own ignorance. And I am not sure,” he continued, turning his back on Evan and looking out of the prow of the ship into the darkness, “I am not sure that I agree with your little maxim about justice. Discipline for the whole society is surely more important than justice to an individual.”






Evan, who was also leaning over the edge, swung round with startling suddenness and stared at the other's back.






“Discipline for society——” he repeated, very staccato, “more important—justice to individual?”






Then after a long silence he called out: “Who and what are you?”






“I am an angel,” said the white-robed figure, without turning round.






“You are not a Catholic,” said MacIan.






The other seemed to take no notice, but reverted to the main topic.






“In our armies up in heaven we learn to put a wholesome fear into subordinates.”






MacIan sat craning his neck forward with an extraordinary and unaccountable eagerness.






“Go on!” he cried, twisting and untwisting his long, bony fingers, “go on!”






“Besides,” continued he, in the prow, “you must allow for a certain high spirit and haughtiness in the superior type.”






“Go on!” said Evan, with burning eyes.






“Just as the sight of sin offends God,” said the unknown, “so does the sight of ugliness offend Apollo. The beautiful and princely must, of necessity, be impatient with the squalid and——”






“Why, you great fool!” cried MacIan, rising to the top of his tremendous stature, “did you think I would have doubted only for that rap with a sword? I know that noble orders have bad knights, that good knights have bad tempers, that the Church has rough priests and coarse cardinals; I have known it ever since I was born. You fool! you had only to say, 'Yes, it is rather a shame,' and I should have forgotten the affair. But I saw on your mouth the twitch of your infernal sophistry; I knew that something was wrong with you and your cathedrals. Something is wrong; everything is wrong. You are not an angel. That is not a church. It is not the rightful king who has come home.”






“That is unfortunate,” said the other, in a quiet but hard voice, “because you are going to see his Majesty.”






“No,” said MacIan, “I am going to jump over the side.”






“Do you desire death?”






“No,” said Evan, quite composedly, “I desire a miracle.”






“From whom do you ask it? To whom do you appeal?” said his companion, sternly. “You have betrayed the king, renounced his cross on the cathedral, and insulted an archangel.”






“I appeal to God,” said Evan, and sprang up and stood upon the edge of the swaying ship.






The being in the prow turned slowly round; he looked at Evan with eyes which were like two suns, and put his hand to his mouth just too late to hide an awful smile.






“And how do you know,” he said, “how do you know that I am not God?”






MacIan screamed. “Ah!” he cried. “Now I know who you really are. You are not God. You are not one of God's angels. But you were once.”




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The main problem is that these guys think that under the perfect 'no Christian egalitarian shit' system, they would be LORDS AND MASTERS.


They wouldn't.  Best they could get, they'd be some kind of household staff dealing with running the kitchens and stores for the real LORDS AND MASTERS.  Worst case?  They'd be ground down into the dirt.  "But I am so smart and big-brain!"  "Yes, and I have big sword.  Which of us wins this contest?"


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Julian wanted to bring back the gracious days of yore before the Christians turned it all to shit, and was frustrated that those shitty Christians managed to appeal to the people who should be following the lead of their betters:




    

  1. To Arsacius, High-priest of Galatia [362, on his way to Antioch in June?]
    2. 







The Hellenic religion does not yet prosper as I desire, and it is the fault of those who profess it; for the worship of the gods is on a splendid and magnificent scale, surpassing every prayer and every hope. May Adrasteia pardon my words, for indeed no one, a little while ago, would have ventured even to pray for a change of such a sort or so complete within so short a time. Why, then, do we think that this is enough, why do we not observe that it is their benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done most to increase atheism? I believe that we ought really and truly to practise every one of these virtues. And it is not enough for you alone to practise them, but so must all the priests in Galatia, without exception. Either shame or persuade them into righteousness or else remove them from their priestly office, if they do not, together with their wives, children and servants, attend the worship of the gods but allow their servants or sons or wives to show impiety towards the gods and honour atheism more than piety. In the second place, admonish them that no priest may enter a theatre or drink in a tavern or control any craft or trade that is base and not respectable. Honour those who obey you, but those who disobey, expel from office. In every city establish frequent hostels in order that strangers may profit by our benevolence; I do not mean for our own people only, but for others also who are in need of money. I have but now made a plan by which you may be well provided for this; for I have given directions that 30,000 modii of corn shall be assigned every year for the whole of Galatia, and 60,000 pints of wine. I order that one-fifth of this be used for the poor who serve the priests, and the remainder be distributed by us to strangers and beggars. For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galilaeans support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us. Teach those of the Hellenic faith to contribute to public service of this sort, and the Hellenic villages to offer their first fruits to the gods; and accustom those who love the Hellenic religion to these good works by teaching them that this was our practice of old. At any rate Homer makes Eumaeus say: "Stranger, it is not lawful for me, not even though a baser man than you should come, to dishonour a stranger. For from Zeus come all strangers and beggars. And a gift, though small, is precious."  Then let us not, by allowing others to outdo us in good works, disgrace by such remissness, or rather, utterly abandon, the reverence due to the gods. If I hear that you are carrying out these orders I shall be filled with joy.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


No one thinks we should beat old men because they can't cross the street fast enough. That's just silly.




That's slave morality right there, friend. The old and weak should know when to yield to the young and strong; if they're social inferiors, they should always be aware that they must defer to the squire and get out of his way, or better yet not get in the way in the first place.  If they're equals or superiors, they should graciously yield (or, depending how far back we want to get, be slain in combat by the new, virile, younger challenger who ascends to the top of the dungheap over the corpse of the previous alpha).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
And it won, because there are always going to be more of the ignorant, servile, and downtrodden.  See the French Revolution.  Guys who are "we want to go back to the days when the likes of us were rightfully the nobles and rulers" should remember the rattle of the tumbrils taking the lords and nobles to execution before the jeering crowds as entertainment.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Guy, men, lads, fellas, I don't even know where to begin with all this.  I am intrigued that Catholics Not Christians, though 😀  So the Horrid Popish Plot met the Global Zionist Conspiracy and we made beautiful music together?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think we're in agreement more on social issues than we're disagreeing, I'm just saying that it wasn't women alone who decided they wanted this new state of affairs, men were happy for it too until they lost the former privileges and were living under the new dispensation.  Now they're blaming women for it being all their fault as if no man ever went along with "wow, you mean the Pill means I can fuck women as much as I want and no babies and having to settle down and marry only one? sign me up!"


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm not sure if the version we sang as secondary school kids at Mass in the late 70s/early 80s is the one you mean, but the very name makes me shudder.


I will gladly donate to this worthy ecumenical project!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 22, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it’s simply that only highly educated men decided things in Islamic nations.




And who educates those men at an early age and influences them afterwards?




The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology gives four distinct forms of concubinage, three of which are applicable to the Muslim World: 'elite concubinage', where concubine ownership was primarily related to social status, such as under the Umayyads; royal concubinage, where concubines became consorts to the ruler and perpetuated the royal bloodline and politics and reproduction were deeply intertwined, including under the Abbasids and in the Ottoman empire; and concubinage as a patriarchal function where concubines were of low status and the children of concubines became permanently inferior to the children of wives, such as in Mughal India.]






...The concubines of Islamic rulers could achieve considerable power, and often enjoyed higher status than other slaves.






...Almost all Abbasid caliphs were born to concubines and several Twelver Shia imams were also born to concubines.[citation needed] The Ottoman sultans also appeared to have preferred concubinage to marriage, and for a time all royal children were born of concubines. Over time, the concubines of the Imperial Harem came to exercise a considerable degree of influence over Ottoman politics.






Valide sultan was, in most cases, the most important position in the Ottoman Empire after the sultan himself. As the mother to the sultan, by Islamic tradition ("A mother's right is God's right"), the valide sultan would often have a significant influence on the affairs of the empire. She had great power in the court and her own rooms (always adjacent to her son's) and state staff. The valide sultan had quarters within the New Palace, where the Sultan himself resided, beginning in the 16th century.






As the Valide sultan (Sultana mother), who had direct and intimate access to the Sultan's person, often influenced government decisions bypassing the Imperial Council and the Grand Vizier altogether or the grille-covered window from which the Sultan or Valide sultan could observe Council meetings. This left her at the heart of the political ongoings and machinations of the Ottoman Empire. valide sultan also traditionally had access to considerable economic resources and often funded major architectural projects, such as the Atik Valide Mosque Complex in Istanbul. Many valide sultans undertook massive philanthropic endeavors and buildings, as this was seen as one of the main ways to demonstrate influence and wealth. Valide sultans were also conveniently one of the few people within the empire with the station and means to embark on these expensive projects. Nurbanu Sultan's daily stipend as valide sultan to her son, Murad III, was 2000 aspers, an extraordinary sum for the time, which revealed the highly influential position she held at court.






The valide sultan also maintained special privileges that other harem members could not participate in. A valide sultan was not subject to sole seclusion within the confines of the palace. She had mobility outside of the harem, sometimes through ceremonial visibility to the public or veiled meetings with government officials and diplomats. Additionally, the valide sultan spearheaded one of the most crucial elements of diplomacy within the Ottoman Empire’s court: marriages of royal princesses. The most powerful and influential valide sultans had multiple daughters, with whom they forged crucial alliances through by marriage. During the 17th century, in a period known as the Sultanate of Women, a series of incompetent or child sultans raised the role of the valide sultan to new heights. Two Valide sultans acted as regents for their sons, assuming the vast power and influence the position entailed.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Again, not blaming men as the primary movers and shakers.  But in all the "birth rate dropping, women should be having more babies" discussion I see, nobody is talking about the other side of the equation - the fathers of these babies.  Women are not having babies for reasons of convenience, but so are men.  If you want more marriage, stable marriage, and more babies, you need to sort out the culture and social values and that includes guys as well as dolls.  Men also have expectations, standards, and conditioning from wider society around marriage and family (which culturally has shifted from "early marriage, be main breadwinner, have two to four kids" to "develop your career, enjoy yourself while still young, mature adulthood is put off until thirties, kids are an expensive drag which prevent you from spending your money on having fun and buying stuff").


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My own view is that there is not going to be magic all-powerful AI providing for the world, so most people are goiung to have to work for a living just like always.  The type of work available may be different, but the profits of AI are going to the big institutional shareholders.


I'm not saying you don't intend the best for your kids, but your view of "this is best for you" and their view of the results, which after all they are the ones living with it, may differ. "Dad, I hated that from the age of three you were measuring me every week and if I didn't match up to what you expected, your disappointment and disapproval were evident.  Sure, I'm six foot tall, but I'd prefer to be five foot nine and we spent time together doing stuff when I was a kid".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


At the end of the day people who care about improving things and have specific goals like a society with more healthy monogamous relationships and at least replacement fertility rate, should change things.




Yeah, and if men want that, they are going to have to face up to it that they can't eat their cake and have it: be 'sowing their wild oats' in their 20s with a bunch of hot, willing chicks, then settle down in their 30s with a modest wifey to pop out kids.  If you want hot chicks willing to have casual sex with you, you are going to have a culture where women will expect the same sexual market value as men.  If you don't want a culture of promiscuity and infertility, you are going to have to change back to the old values of "respectable men don't fuck around and will try and wait for marriage".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


If Sotomayor had the opportunity to retire with a 55 or 60 vote D majority, she could be assured of being replaced by a successor with a brilliant career ahead of him. If Sotomayor retires now, she's quite likely to be replaced by a third-rate non-entity.




The elephant in the room is the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  I think everyone pretty much agrees that she hung on way too long, and her replacement ended up being Amy Coney Barrett, recipient of some of the nastiest attempts at mud-flinging since Brett Kavanaugh.


Sotormayor is 70 which in itself is not that old, but she is also a diabetic with allegedly poor health.  The problem foreseen here is that she either dies or has to retire due to that poor health, which means - who gets to pick her successor?


The new presidential election is going to be held in June.  If Biden wins re-election, great, she can drop off the perch the day after he's sworn in and they'll appoint a replacement like they did with Ketanji Brown Jackson (any opinions on how she's doing, as an aside? I was hearing prognostications of 'she'll be terrible/she'll be wonderful' but what's the view now?).


But if Trump wins, which is a possibility, then he's going to appoint another Catholic Theocrat Cultist (ahem) to tighten the grip on the Court of the Conservative Papist Menace.


So that's why the calls for her to not emulate Ruth and for the love of DEI, jump before she's pushed so Biden can get the reliable liberal justice the nation needs.




Sinema and Manchin wouldn't have it any other way, and no Rs have the guts to cross the aisle.




Pardon me while I smile.  No, pardon me while I smirk like the Cheshire Cat.  The amount of oleaginous gloating I saw on Tumblr when Sinema was elected and sworn in (by Pence) - she's bi! she's a Dem! she's liberal! Old Torture The Gays must hate her, look at his face in this photo!


And now the see-saw has gone to the other extreme, and she's a demon, a traitor who should be kicked out, all because she hasn't been the 200% rainbow flag waving on every cause that the children were hoping to get 😁


I understand why Manchin does what he does, and he's a canny politician.  That Sinema is now Cruella deVille, seemingly, in the eyes of those who were all "yaas Mommy!" on her election just makes me laugh even harder.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Their dialogue is either snappy oneliners, built for movie trailers, or clunky exposition.




That's the main problem today; movies aren't written to tell stories, they're written to reference other movies/TV shows.  They're written as pitches: "Imagine X and Y, but it's like Z!"  The script is one-liners punctuated by the Big CGI Scenes (be those explosions, fights, battles, whatever).  There isn't plot to speak of, the purpose of the plot is to get the characters from point A to point B (quipping and one-lining all the way) so they can do Big Thing, then move on to do Next Big Thing.


I've excoriated Rings of Power enough on here before, but that was the major problem with the showrunners: they haven't done anything.  They have a writing credit on a reboot Trek script, they've worked on other projects that never went anywhere, and they've been around as rewriters for other scripts.  That's it.


So they don't know how to make a show by telling a story.  They throw together stock tropes for the characters ("Galadriel, but back when she's, like, young and feisty and full of fight, GirlBoss!") and have big set-piece scenes in mind, but they don't make connections or care about filling in the holes.


So the Númenorean army can set sail on three small ships that get to Middle-earth in a matter of days, to unload a huge cavalry charge (ripping off the ride of the Rohirrim, what us?) that ends up in precisely the right place at precisely the right moment to save the day, and never mind how unlikely this is, how much time is supposed to have passed (not helped by cutting between 'scenes happening at night in this place' and 'scenes happening during the day in that place'), or where all those horses and soldiers fit on the three small ships.


And it shows. That's what got the show the most criticism: a lot of nothing happened at great length, then they crammed in the very necessary parts in the last fifteen minutes.


This is their idea for season two Sauron: "He'll be like Walter White or Tony Soprano".  No originality of their own, just copying successful properties.  And that's what modern movie and TV scripts are: copy what went before and was successful.  So they end up not writing humans as they really behave, but copies of characters that are copies of characters that are copies of characters from TV and movies.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The issue isn't that they were doing their own preg checks, it's that they were operating and advertising a business that did it for other people for a fee.




Isn't the complication here that they were running an AI service?  So maybe as part of that it was "after your cow is inseminated, we'll do a follow-up check to make sure she's in calf, no foal no fee" arrangement?  They weren't selling pregnancy checks as a separate business.  I don't know the fine details and there must be more going on here than we know about.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It may well have made its way out into wider society and lost all sharp edges of definition, like other terms of disapprobation such as "racist" and "Nazi", but it originated as "involuntarily celibate" meaning someone who wanted romantic relationships and was unsuccessful for no reason they could discern easily.


But it became popularised, and unfortunately set as the image of the 'incel', by that young man who killed young women because he felt aggrieved over not getting the love life he felt he deserved.  And if you read any of his writing, it's clearly evident why he couldn't get and keep a girlfriend and it was down to his own flaws and lacks.  The kind of person who goes and murders random people, after all, is not the kind of person who can manage to get on with others in the ordinary way of things.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 8, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What else could they do?  Israel bombs their consulate and kills their people.


(1) We do nothing.  Everyone now thinks we're toothless cowards and Israel takes this as carte blanche to do what they like when they like to who they like
(2) We respond seriously.  Now we've kicked off a war in the region and everyone blames us, the same way that clever bullies can get you in trouble by running to Teacher when you finally hit back at them.
(3) We make a token response.  This shows we are not just going to lie back and take it, but it also can be cooled down fast enough not to escalate things worse.


I think they went for option three and I think we're lucky they're sensible enough or cautious enough to do so.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For a long time, it's been a tricky balancing act.  Don't put out? You're a frigid bitch.  Do put out?  You're a slut.  Men seem to want (and I'm emphasising "seem" here because this is all gross generalisation) women to be agreeable to have sex with them, but never to have had sex with previous partners, or only a couple of previous partners.  If you think about it, it's not really doable; if you dump/break up with the girlfriend and both of you move on to new relationships, after a while you're both going to have a past history.  If Joe has had more relationships than Annie, that's great.  If Joe and Annie have the same number, that may be a problem: too high for Annie, too low for Joe even on the same numbers.  If Annie has had more relationships than Joe, that's bad because that means she's promiscuous.


The double standard hurts men and women both because men are supposed to rack up more experience, but women are not, which means how do you do that?  If the guy is always dating a new girlfriend who had only one or two boyfriends before him, then a small number of men are getting all the 'good' girls and leaving 'sullied' girls after them for the rest of the guys.


So women have an incentive to report lower numbers, and men to report higher numbers, of previous partners than they really have had.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not to blame it all on culture, but it honestly does have an effect if you're a population that has been seen as less capable to the dominant one.  There's an awful strain persisting in Irish society of (1) lack of appreciation for built heritage, now ironically the chickens are coming home to roost because our tourism industry wants to find selling points but we've mostly trashed the Georgian and other heritage due to the 70s-90s building booms (2) what is called cute hoorism, where you look out for Number One, do down others, and generally don't give a damn about the common good.


A lot of that is due to the colonial past, where the best way to succeed was to play up to the Handy Andy stereotype of the broth of a boy, a bit dim, but brave and hardy, even if boastful and foolish. Of course, such people weren't fit to govern themselves, being in the same position as children, but that is why the superior Anglo-Saxon/British stock was placed by God over them as natural rulers.


While that flatters the vanity of the rulers, what it engenders in the ruled is a culture of being two-faced, of putting on a performance, of pretending to be (and maybe really being) dependent, incapable, and harmless.  If you can't be held responsible, then you can't be blamed either, for drinking, fighting and stealing.  It's corrosive to the national character to be liars, hypocrites, and thieves.


And I think a lot of that happened in African-American culture (the Stepin Fetchit caricature) and is made worse by being exploited, by white liberal guilt and black grifters; why not steal and rob, you're owed reparations?  Why teach kids to 'act white' where that means 'don't be lazy and criminal'?  The worst of "they can't help it, the poor things, it's their nature" and "we are owed for the wrongs done to our people" combining to make future generations worse than they need to be.


In that case, I don't much give a damn about relative IQ or is the average population score lower, I do care about "is misbehaviour being punished or is it being reinforced as 'our culture'?"  If your height of ambition is to be a rapper or drug dealer, does it matter if you're a smart drug dealer or a stupid one?  It's still bad all round for you, your community, and the future.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Which I understand, there was a period between 16-18 when it seemed like I had somehow already missed the boat: every girl I hit on who didn't reject me immediately eventually told me she had lost her virginity some time ago to her [asshole] ex bf, and that now she wasn't really interested in that kind of thing anymore.




And I can understand that attitude on the part of the girls; they had sex for the first time with their boyfriend because that's what you're supposed to do when you're In Love (as well as the other social attitudes dinned into us about sex and freedom and the rest of it); it probably wasn't that great for her because inexperience and a guy who is more interested in getting off  himself; she thinks "well I don't know what is supposed to be so great about this" and then they break up.  And the boys who replace him are, as you say, 16-18 and clearly aching for the chance to get sex, which is why they want a girlfriend.  And it's clear to the girl that they primarily see her as a route to sexual access.  And if she isn't that keen on having sex, and the boy isn't that impressive, then "sorry but no, Horace, I can only think of you as a brother".


Nobody is being deliberately bad, the boys are boys at that age and Nature is having its way with them, the girls are being girls.  The boys will want sex a lot more than the girls and be less interested in the girls as persons, conversely the girls will be socialised into putting huge emphasis onto the personal element and be turned off by "he only has one thing on his mind".  There isn't really a cure for it, it does no good to be brutally honest and tell 16-18 year old boys "you will want sex much, much more strongly, and want it more frequently, than the girls will, and unless they really like you there is little chance you'll get it" and tell 16-18 year old girls "basically all you are is a warm body to him so if you don't put out he'll dump you".   The boys are not being mean or horrible on purpose, but neither are the girls.  It's evolutionary drives all the way down, with the layers of civilisation on top!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Re: drinking and driving, while that has finally become socially unacceptable here in Ireland - though people continue to do it, and now have added 'driving while high/stoned/under the influence of drugs' to the repertoire since now we're a modern, urbanised country - we'd have some local politicians defending it on the basis that (1) rural people don't have access to buses and taxis like town people and (2) it's often the only means for social outing for those guys to go to the pub once a week.  Also, claims that such crackdowns would mean small pubs in rural areas would have to shut down.


Some of those chancer politicians' efforts from 2013 and 2019.


Drink driving impacts rural areas, drug driving impacts town/city areas.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Some of the contraband shellfish quantities involved seem way too high for just personal consumption, and so we wondered if the motivation was selling their haul to some less-than-scrutinizing restaurants.




Do people not go harvesting shellfish as a commercial operation on Canadian beaches?  It's fallen out of favour here now, but in my own town there used to be people going out on the harbour or out to the beaches when the tide went out so they could gather mussels etc. for sale.


The big deal here is salmon fishing, which is a perennial (though again, died down in recent years) tussle between the holder of the fishing rights on the river (who is selling them as part of the package of tourism to overseas fishermen for the whole experience) and the local guys fishing the river (poaching) and selling on the salmon.


Nobody round here is Cambodian (yet) so yeah, I think you can take it they're selling the shellfish on, well unless they're planning a multi-generational get-together of an enormous clam bake 😁


I'm going to go out on the opposite limb here and claim that Western (which is what we are really talking about re: whiteness) success is down to Christianity.  A set of moral, ethical and cultural values that were imposed society-wide across a particular region for centuries shaped the mindsets and expectations of the inhabitants around things like the common good (keep the rules about over-fishing, and don't over fish because everyone should get their fair share, and a fair share is due because 'who is my neighbour/love your enemy/we are all children of God' etc.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, yes.  "Couldn't get laid when I was 16, now I'm 30 and I still can't get laid" could be down to "all women are bitches" or it could be "there are reasons why this is down to me" (and that needn't be "I don't make any effort", it's "unfortunately due to nature I'm odd/weird/ugly/otherwise unattractive").


But "couldn't get laid when I was 16, now I'm 30 and I can" has little reason to still resent the 16 year old girls back then.  You're older now, improved, grew up (we hope), are better value, know now what to do and how to act when you want to attract someone.  Still being resentful over "Lisa wouldn't date me when I was a spotty, gangly, awkward 16 year old, that bitch, I hope she's fat and single and poor today" is just being mean.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Look, I'm old enough that I remember the tail end of the Sexual Revolution becoming aware of it as going into my teen years.  The attitudes then about men versus women were nuts by modern standards, and I don't mean "crazy ultra-feminists hate all men" standards, I mean "treating the other person as a human" standards.  The attitudes parodied here where guys were tough and macho and women loved it, and the notion was to be sexually available because this was the new era of doing away with hang-ups.  Men did benefit from it, so it does make me smile wryly to read all the crying now that the shoe is on the other foot.


Is it great that women can now be emotionally abusive to men?  No.  But in general guys are now getting a taste of the medicine that women had to put up with, and they don't like it.  Newsflash: neither did women, hence feminism.  "Women have the power in the dating market! Women are too picky!  Women spurn nice guys and go for the alphas!"  Yeah, the sexual market place used to be a male buyer's market, now it's a female one.  And men can't shove off all the blame onto women, because men wanted to eat their cake and have it: women willing and available for casual sex, no demands for committed relationships or marriage, and access to novelty.  Women were then conditioned into 'if guys can do it, so can you'.  And now we have the results, where nobody is happy save for a few who can command premium attention, be they men or women.


If you're going to complain that women are not having babies, you need to look at the other side of "where do you get babies" because it's not out of thin air.  Why don't women want marriage and kids?  What are the social forces driving this?  A lot of it is economic - unless you have one partner with a lot of money, it's not really feasible to be a stay at home wife and mother.  If both of you have to work, then there's little chance to have kids because it all needs to be planned around education and careers, and then when you do, you're paying for childcare which is pretty much eating up one of your wages.  You won't get a mortgage without two incomes, and renting is another problem (can you even find a place to rent, and if you do how high is the rent, and will the lease allow children?)


I'm not trying to blame men, I'm saying that there are no easy answers and putting all the blame on women alone is as unfair as putting all the blame on men alone.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


For example neither women nor society benefits if birth rates crash and we have a culture that abhors necessary pain and self sacrifice.




And I'm going to say here that it takes two to tango, the Sexual Revolution was for the benefit of men as much (or even more) than women.  Attitudes in the 60s-70s were "why should I be trapped and bound down by marriage, why can't I get sex outside of marriage?"  Men were seduced by the promised lifestyle of free love and liberation, where they could have as much sex as they wanted with loads of willing women who would not demand committment and marriage from them.  They didn't want their fathers' life of marriage and family and domesticity and 9-5 job where you work thirty years for the gold watch and pension.  They wanted the new freedoms the new era promised, and that did not include "get married and have a kid by 25-30".


I'm certainly not excluding women and feminism here, but it was men as much as women who didn't want family and kids to get in the way of the fun the new world of good jobs with good pay, increased access to air travel, the opening up of global tourism and holiday destinations, and 'now you can spend your money on things that you enjoy' offered to them.