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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 14, 2022

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Reading about the FTX dèbacle and what the founder and his friends thought (especially about their EA space) made me understand how much utterly alien is to me the entire EA movement.

Watching the videos, the blogposts, all the infos that are getting out, made me reflect on "how" they think money should be used by rich people in order to maximise happiness and saving people and in particular the entire world.

Maybe it is because of my particular illiberal upbringing (Euro-mediterranean Catholic family), but I cannot fathom how this ideology is, for my eyes, "Utterly Evil".

How can you, a rich person, focusing yourself on improving astract things as the entire world, financing no-profits and calculating metaphysical moral earning based on how much money you are investing in EA?

Why not helping your community, focusing on art, infrastructure and knowledge, instead of giving money to global moral enterprises? It utterly repulse me on a philosophical and moral level, and this is probably the reason I never bought in EA.

If this is the alternative to the woke/progressive view, I have no idea of how the Western World can remotely fix its problems. Am I the only one who feels like this?

EA is not an alternative to the progressive view; it is an expression of it. It's a different branch than woke, but it is still "globohomo" progressivism.

I’d like to see an explanation of the term “globohomo.” Every time I see it used, it’s indistinguishable from a know-it-when-i-see it circumlocution for “things I don’t like.”

Portmanteau of "global" and "homogenous", though I expect the wink at "homosexual" is intentional. Basically Scott's Universal Culture, only with negative valence.

The "homo" isn't always just a wink at "homosexual" - it also is a reference to the high priority of LGBT in western diplomatic efforts and high-level initiatives.

Do Western governments place a high priority on LGBT rights in their diplomatic efforts? The media may make a big deal out of it (see for example the focus on LGBT rights over more general civil and labour rights in recent discussion of Qatar in relation to the World Cup), but do governments actually care? After all, Saudi Arabia, where same-sex activity is a capital offence, is a close ally of the West, and the West also cooperates with other countries where homosexuality is illegal.

Well, here's one example.

In the cable, Mr. Blinken noted that it was not a requirement and gave chiefs of mission the ability to “determine that such a display is appropriate in light of local conditions.”

In other words, only do it where the locals are already pro-LGBT. They're not trying to convince either the local population or the government of anything, they're just repeating a message the locals already agree with. Hardly a "high priority".

Blinken said he brings up LGBT in every conversation with the Saudis. Some have speculated this is why the Saudis rebuffed US desire to increase oil production before the mid-terms.

https://www.axios.com/2022/06/17/blinken-saudi-arabia-lgbtq-rights

Biden said he'd do more for LGBT in his first foreign policy speech

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-signs-memo-protecting-lgbtq-rights-worldwide-set/story?id=75682189

He also signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that he said would "reinvigorate our leadership on the LGBTQI issues and do it internationally."

"We'll ensure diplomacy and foreign assistants are working to promote the rights of those individuals included by combatting criminalization and protecting the LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers," Biden said.

The US soccer team in Qatar will wear LGBT rainbow on their uniforms

https://dailycaller.com/2022/11/14/us-national-soccer-team-crest-lgbt-world-cup-qatar/