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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31611 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022

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Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of people have lost sight of this. I remember arguing with people (otherwise smart people, even) about Mozilla firing Brendan Eich back in the day. They simply considered it unimportant that if we set the precedent that you can fire someone for being against gay marriage, you also are going to be able to fire people for being gay if the Overton window ever shifts that way. They were purely concerned with short-term "get the enemy" even at the cost of long-term harm to their own causes.

I think the problem is bigger than that: I think many people on the left believe legitimately and truly that there is no way the Overton window ever shifts back towards views they disagree with.

If you'll permit me to out-blackpill you: It's worse than that. I had quite a few discussions with self-proclaimed "liberals" arguing for more state control to crush their opposition where I asked them how they would like it if the winds shifted and they were left staring down the barrel they are forging.

The answer, and this is not me being hyperbolic, almost always was: "That is precisely why we must do everything to defeat those fascists before they even get the chance." It's quite literally who/whom.

the medical transition of trans minors be ultimately rejected by the societal consensus by 2050 (as I think is plausible), I wonder if there might be at least some on the progressive left who would categorically deny any progressive ever advocated for such a thing

The easy option here would be to say "it was all motivated by evil capitalist for-profit medicine." Conservatives are even helping to build that case for them already, and it will be a simple pivot when the time comes.

You forgot to take it all the way, it will be blamed on "evil capitalist for-profit medicine, and wait a minute, which side was known for being pro-business back then?" and just like that the blame will be laid at the feet of the right, just like how eugenics has been laundered using the shoddy commutative equation "eugenicists= Nazis = right-wingers = conservatives".

Will private enterprise and large corporate capitalism be firmly on the right in 2050? I don’t doubt that the right will be capitalist or at least anti communist, but it seems like large, complex corporations of the sort that are plausibly somewhat blameworthy for trans are becoming more and more lib/progressive in terms of alignment.

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