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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 24, 2022

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Nobody likes being called names.

Where were you protesting when everyone and their dog is putting up "Republicans are evil" on comments, posts, and general "look we all know they're Nazi fascists, why can't we call them Nazi fascists"?

The "groomer" label clearly hurts and strikes a nerve. You are (presumed from what you say) a Democrat and don't like being called a paedophile? Welcome to being Catholic, where there are all too many people willing to split hairs about "acskhully if you compare the number of Catholic priests to teachers regarding paedophile offences, priests still score higher by that measure" and the jokes.

You're not a paedophile. How do you feel about drag shows in schools, drag story hour in libraries, drag kids, and classroom chats about "if you like playing with trucks/dolls, maybe you're really a boy/girl" for four year olds? Teacher complaining that the new Nazi fascist 'don't say gay' laws mean they can no longer tell their class all about how they're poly and have both a husband and a girlfriend? Hawaiian schoolteachers who pull the old "homophobes are actually closeted gays" claim about "if rightwingers say we're groomers for talking about LGBT issues with kids, then they're really paedophiles themselves" before they themselves get arrested for having sex with a 13 year old student?

No, it's not fun or nice or pleasant to endure when you're on the receiving end of it.

But flaming out with "if you really believed this was serious, you'd be setting teachers on fire" rhetoric (I accept you don't mean that literally) doesn't help either.

Because going back to being Catholic, this is the trap that gets sprung: "if you pro-lifers really believed it was murder, you'd be doing more than arguing about laws" somebody goes out and does violence "oh my god, we always knew that this wasn't about alleged baby murder, they just want to coerce women into forced birth, see how they're all murderers and arsonists and bombers!"

There's no way to win about that catch-22, so "groomer" is a very mild response, considering.

But you are free. If you genuinely feel that this is a place of oppression for you, then leave and be happy elsewhere. Good wishes.