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professorgerm

clutching my imitation pearls

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joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC 

				
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professorgerm


								
								
									
								
								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
clutching my imitation pearls

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 12 12:41:49 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


isn't it safe to assume that the guy who made "because I got high" was probably in posession of narcotics?




He references that in "Will You Help Me Repair My Door":




The warrant said "Narcotics and kidnapping"/
The warrant said "Narcotics and kidnapping"/
Are you kidding? I make my money, rapping/
Why does the warrant say "Narcotics?" (Well, I know narcotics)/
But why kidnapping?




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Girls like that in Slipknot t-shirts and cargo pants were a dime a dozen back then




the good ole days


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think it's more that left-of-center people are significantly more likely to care if a prominent member of their organization turns out to be a sexual predator.




Eventually. Maybe. Decades later. And only if they're heterosexual.




there's really no reason to go digging up these kinds of skeletons unless this is something you actually care about.




As you gesture at, it's resolving the tension between the principle and the endless thirst for power- once everyone's dead and the consequences have happened, you can look back and say "well wasn't that unfortunate? Too bad we were all fucking cowards at the time and decided The Cause was worth a bit of rape!"


Pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It says something about the psychology of this particular ideology that so many prominent lefty leaders turn out to be rapists and/or pedophiles.




The "don't report the rape because it'll damage The Cause" psychology of a certain kind of victim/attendant/etc is surely part of the equation too.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It’s not dead - but it COULD have been the capital of the free world.




Do you hate humanity so much that NYC should've had more influence?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


whether it would literally take gene therapy to fix it.




Specifically targeting the MAOA 2-repeat allele.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


They seem completely uncorrelated to me. I'd even hazard a guess that plenty of these so-called "dinergoths" are not meaningfully "woke" in an ideological sense.




As someone pointed out elsewhere "dinergoth" is not a term they coined themselves so is a bit of an awkward fit (though again: Freddie's point). The self-chosen term is probably usually queer in a generic sense rather than Truly Activist sense, which sometimes overlaps with woke but isn't interchangeable.


In my extremely limited experience of people that might fit the archetype to the extent it even is an archetype, it's more like 2020's version of emo or scene, it's an aesthetic with a few shared hobbies and fairly minimal ideological components.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


But you can!




It's one of those things that if you're in a position of power to actually do it, you can, but talking about it activates a whole helluva lot of people that will oppose you at every turn.


As someone not in a position of power, I notice that anyone talking about vote reform gets dogpiled in the public discourse, more than I notice whatever backroom machinations go on.




Every state does voter roll maintenance.




Well, supposedly. Virginia introduced that law about not doing it but I assume it'll take a little while to get through.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I think that is a bit uncharitable. Do Republicans mean no one should vote, ever?




It's not a perfect parallel of absurdism. You can't remove voters from rolls. You can't require ID. You can't oppose ballot harvesting. You can't be skeptical of hundreds of homeless people voting from an NGO office. Et cetera and so forth.


I'm originally from a state with a notoriously corrupt election history, so maybe I'm a little more primed than average to take concern here.


I am comfortable being a bit uncharitable when believing my lying eyes. Likewise, I'll acknowledge that the DHS twitter account is proof enough that for at least some in the administration, the cruelty is the point. Less than maximal charity does not require throwing the baby out with the bathwater.




Their current planks are such radical statements as “expand the VRA”




Do we really think elections would be improved by making the Catch-22 navigating between the CRA and VRA even worse?


Maybe we should just disenfranchise white people altogether. Taps head Can't gerrymander the minority when there's no majority! For some reason I doubt the Dems would be satisfied then, either. I wonder how all these laws blow up in 2060 or if history just keeps the charade going.




most Democrat voters




Not a relevant category. What voters want and what politicians do is poorly correlated, and prior to the Iran brouhaha I would've said it was especially poorly correlated on the left.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


professional white women who think their phone is a scifi universal gadget




Electronic licenses are getting more common! My state DMV was supposed to offer them last summer but it's been crickets since.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
At least 25%.


But really, it's more of a fundamental belief about the value of voting and what citizenship even means.


I don't think it's too uncharitable to say Dems are the Party of Vote Maximization- that anyone in the country should be able to vote with no verification whatsoever. 500 hobos voting from one building in Philly or whatever it was is apparently the pinnacle of democracy. Cynically, this has historically benefited Dems, and they drank their koolaid long enough to believe it.


I, on the other hand, think "competent enough to obtain a birth certificate or similar documentation at least once in their lifetime at or after age 18 and have an address that isn't an NGO office" is not so much friction as to be concerning for the foundations of democracy.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I was more for voter ID until I've seen the complete fiasco that the NC DMV has been under for over a year.




I lost mine recently and I'm considering opting for a non-RealID and just carrying my passport those rare times I fly.


That, or drive to Nags Head I guess. LOL.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I didn't say they were consistent!


I don't recall the exact episode so take my memory with as much salt as you like, but I was thinking of an episode of This Week in Virology where the virologists in question were discussing basically this proposal- that BSL4 and/or GOF labs should be, at best, in the middle of the desert with movement protocols- and they laughed it off because you wouldn't get anyone competent willing to work in the middle of nowhere.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I can guarantee that most people doing this kind of work believe they're making the world a better place




An important caveat, that the people doing the work are probably not the same ones popularizing the work, signing open letters, hosting podcasts, et cetera, and as such outsiders will have a rather different view of the field available.




Try some mistake theory and charity for a change.




Occasionally when you try that, the New York Times publishes an article where your enemy declares they're exactly as evil and stupid as you originally thought before trying mistake theory. At that point you're allowed to stop the charade and accept reality.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Maybe those people should really be send to Antarctica, or onto a decommissioned oil rig only serviced by a very slow ship.




Correct. The problem is that prominent researchers care more about socialization than safety, and laugh at the idea.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


people who followed the rules as they were at the time are categorically not "illegal immigrants"




That's not quite what I said, either.


That they followed the rules of the time does not mean the rules of the time made any sense, or that the rules of the time must never be undone.




The moderate swing voting Americans are not partisan brained enough to turn off their critical thinking like that.




LOL you were alive in 2020, they absolutely are willing to turn off their critical thinking, or at least stay quiet and in hiding so the outcome is the same.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Likewise when the Trump admin strips the legal status of people who came here properly




"Temporary actually means permanent" and "Biden's psycho paroling should be permanent" continue to be terrible positions and give away the game that most complaints about immigration from the left are salami-slicing at best.


One president can do what they want and it can never be undone is not a good policy. Everything flip-flopping on a 4 to 8 year basis isn't great policy either, of course.




Instead of telling Americans you're doing popular thing Y and then doing unpopular things X, just do the Y thing! Tell your extremists to settle instead of trying to appeal to them.




That more or less Denmark alone has managed this really begs the question of why its so difficult.


I guess Japan just elected what's supposedly their most right-wing government since before The War suggests it's not technically just Denmark, but may also suggest America is past some tipping point where it was possible.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Have Americans lost the ability to envision a positive future for their own country?




Is there any "Western" country, other than maybe Denmark, that can envision a positive future for their own country?




What the hell is wrong? Seriously what is wrong?




The Mayans were right and the world ended in 2012, we're just playing out the consequences. And Fukuyama, and Toynbee, and Nietzsche...


Slightly more seriously, unconstructive cynicism is easy and not too painful. To envision a positive future without an ability to influence it is painful.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I can kind of see it in the same vein as "women think they want an emotionally-sensitive man until they actually have one," or the kind of messaging that led Scott to write both Untitled and Reverse Any Advice.


You should be honest with your wife, of course, and a wife that cares about your day is a blessing! But one should be aware that there's probably a limit to that.


I find my job dissatisfying but stable and hard to escape, I figured out where my wife's limit is on me bitching about it, so it didn't take too long to get to an agreement with "ssdd" and I'll reserve elaboration for when I really need to.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation




At least that has a requirement- enrolled citizens have to prove direct descent from at least one person on the Dawes Roll. He's probably about 1/16 or 1/32 Cherokee 'officially', though yeah features are much more Irish/American mutt.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


A right wing activist kicked it over, and is now charged with felony destruction of property, facing up to five years in prison.




Should've just turned up the thermostat.




the state attorney general called the event a first amendment activity.




One of the infamous Soros AGs. Absolute waste of constituent parts, and yet the constituency keeps voting for him. Difficult to stop a society determined to off itself.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The architecture is better than later alternatives, but still leaves something to be desired.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Because the only thing the people that have the equipment, skills, resources and intent to splice a sequence into Y pestis lack is the sequence itself.




The slightly more concerning version would be that a group with the intent and resources to buy the equipment uses a model to make up for the skills as an infinitely-patient and reasonably smart teacher, but yeah, probably not the worst risk.




Anyway creating drug resistance in bacteria is quite trivial and thought in 6th grade.




That was my 7th grade science fair experiment! Did stepped concentrations to select for Triclosan resistance. Great teacher, fun project. Quite stinky.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


not like "use preferred pronouns for nice people but not for murderers".




It was a thing around one of the earlier trans violence incidents but I don't recall which one specifically. I'm thinking particularly of Blocked and Reported, with Jesse Singal sticking to the "studiously use preferred pronouns" line (of course) and Katie being much lazier (of course) and/or pushing back a bit, that it ultimately is a respect thing and you don't need to respect murderers.


It's not like there's not similar examples, other populations where slurs are 'allowed' or you won't be expect to respect an identity due to other factors. I wouldn't be surprised if you could find people that would use preferred pronouns for murderers but not for nice conservatives.




it would imply a very weird outlook where ability to change one's social gender is some sort of… revocable privilege?




A presidential candidate tried to change people's race based on their lack of support for himself. Hypocrisy exists and people are weird, news at 11.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


And thousands, perhaps millions, are reliably stumped by the "is a hotdog a sandwich" question




AFAICT no one's lost their job, been hounded out of their hobby, lost an election, rewrote decades of a social movement, etc over this one.