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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 14, 2022

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No, like I said, I'm comparing to a typical skeptical framework, commonly used to dismiss conspiracy theories. I see how "assume good faith" could lead to a misunderstanding, but I specifically brought up Hanlon's Razor to take "any individual group is foolish and trading water" into account as well.

Notice how that approach also explains rather than predicts, and promotes inaction.

You see a pothole in the road. If you believe that the government has left it there intentionally to punish your community because it's too white, you're unlikely to call 411. If you believe it's because the public works department just didn't know about it because they're mortal, you call 411.

You see evidence of Epstein running an underage prostitution Ponzi scheme, that the police were aware of it, and see them stand down when the federal prosecution gave him a slap on the wrist.

What do you do when you believe it was a conspiracy, vs when you believe it was incompetence?

Conspiracy: Do nothing, because if they have the power to let Epstein run rampant, surely you stand no chance.

Incompetence: You demand competence. You watch the Netflix documentary (no coverup here) and you look at your local politics to see if they're mishandling any cases similarly.

Weird, I don't seem to remember non-conspiracists "demanding competence" when Epstein got his slap on the wrist, I seem to remember them yelling "conspiracy theorist!" at anyone demanding the matter be investigated further.

Same thing with Epstein's supposed suicide, or the court redacting information in Maxwell's trial.

demanding the matter be investigated further

Was this the first time he was bagged, though, or the second?

Does 'investigate the matter further' mean trying to find the next dropped ball or chasing ghosts?

Same thing with Epstein's supposed suicide

Ok that one might be a real hit.

Was this the first time he was bagged, though, or the second?

Does 'investigate the matter further' mean trying to find the next dropped ball or chasing ghosts?

The first time. And how could it be described as "chasing ghosts" if we know the police and prosecution had evidence of what he did?