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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022

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One more comment on this woke thread. This is attempt to steelman the woke mindset, attempt to explain by analogy how "the woke" feel about whites and whiteness.

Imagine country controlled by mafia, country where mafia families own disproportionate share of wealth and power.

How would non-mafiosi feel about the mafia?

There are mafiosi born and raised in mafia. These are bad hombres, and few mafia victims are willing to contemplate whether it is really their fault.

There are "mafia adjacent" people, who hang around mafiosi and try to behave like them. These are also highly sus people.

There are mafiosi who were not born into mafia, but joined it willingly. These are the worst people around.

There are also "penitents", mafiosi who renounced the mafia and fight against the mafia system. They are not bad people, but they have to understand they will not be ever as trusted as someone who was never in mafia.

(There are also mafiosi who claim to be victims. "No one was as oppressed as us! Our family was nearly wiped out by other families! Why you cannot feel our pain?" These are justifiably viewed by real mafia victims as the most revolting kind of mafia ever.)