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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 5, 2025

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That does not explain our different positions, iggy, old branch. When I denounce someone like putin, which you sort of support, as a corrupt murderer, my criticism does not rely on him breaking a ‘sacred covenant’. And when I call trump a liar, the truth he tramples on is not an illusion.

I wouldn't say I support Putin, my feelings towards him are of respect. I appreciate good statesmanship and I would like my people's corrupt murderer leaders (there exists no other kind of leader) to be half as good at corrupt murdering, because then my people would flourish instead of wallow in misery.

Alas, the Truth you worship is indeed the same kind of religious object that must die a God's death. Or at least a protestant reformation.

The careful study of prestigious institutions cannot reliably produce the truth insofar as it's output is connected to government. And claims that it can are just wishes to preserve an illusion that exists for power's sake. The New Atlantis is built on a lie.

The Cathedral holds no epistemological high ground on Donald J. Trump. They are both liars. Trump is just a more honest kind of liar. A sleazy car salesman instead of a diplomat.

I'd say I like the sleaze better but this is not true. In truth I have to be sympathetic to Trump, because unlike his opposition, he doesn't wish death and misery upon me in very direct ways. No Trumpist ever tried to close my bank account, to get me fired, imprisoned or to kill me. He chose to lend his hand in friendship when the respectable institutions have scorned me and my own to the death for decades. That owes some loyalty however you look at it.

You think the russian people are flourishing ? As bad as our elites possibly are, they have not sent us to die in some ditch for some retarded historical larp.

Our elites may not differ in kind, especially if you compare them to some ideal of incorruptible honesty and virtue, but they differ in degree. They may lie here and there, but trump lies more because he does not care at all about the truth. And Putin does not care at all if his people die.

I understand your frustrations with being insulted and stuff (although really, the worse offenders are your postmodern cousins. It’s not me and my people’s doing ; if anything, we were sorry to lose you), but one can always do way worse than government by liberal elites. Just look anywhere else.

I've seen Russia in the 90s. Pulling back from that abyss is worth a crown. You'd have to stack the bodies pretty high to compensate that upside, especially in a place like Russia.

I'm not condoning the senseless waste of human life, never have, since the first day, but as you know I blame Boris Johnson and what drove him for quite a bit of it.

Putin's far from having clean hands, but the blood splashes a ways further than you may like to admit

They may lie here and there, but trump lies more because he does not care at all about the truth.

Power never cares about the truth. Denying that is one of the core conceits of liberalism: scientific government.

Keep denying this truth at your own risk.

Just look anywhere else.

I took great pains to exile myself to "anywhere else". The best countries in the world in my view are not Liberal except Switzerland.

My friend's boss has been jailed for standing up for free speech in that liberal world of yours and won't put a foot there anymore. And that's after escaping Russia.

I can do better than Liberal elites. I am enjoying better right now. Even on ideologically Liberal terms. Try to have a honest discussion of the heresies of biology in the West, see what happens to you. So much for the marketplace of ideas.

And that's to say nothing of the utter self betrayal that liberal economics has become. Bastiat has been rolling in his grave, and not because of some populist's tariffs.

The only reason we let russians blame the west/liberalism for their 90s economic woes is pity for being so shameless and pathetic. The awareness and agency of an 8-year old kid. They really thought that if they mouthed magical words like capitalism and liberalism, their crumbling garbage economy would be instantly fixed, and if not, they would be freed from all responsibility. They’re still there now, taking no responsibility, obsequiously following and approving whatever their rulers tell them, as if it were a religious ritual.

The anti-west allies of russia (cuba, north korea) got it worse, an entire generation of malnourished dwarves.

You’re not citing these better-run countries you are admiring and enjoying, I can’t argue against a figment of your imagination.

Try to have a honest discussion of the heresies of biology in the West, see what happens to you.

We have them here, and nothing happens. I’m very much anti-censorship, but even with it, I think you can stack liberal democracies against its credible rivals and they come out ahead on individual liberty.

I think your entire ideology is based on a strawman of liberalism. For example, you guys rail against the ‘liberal rules-based international order’, and when russia invades some country you say: “you see, there is no such thing”, as if the LIO was a supernatural being or a ‘sacred covenant’ whose existence was disproven by the lack of a miraculous intervention. And so, seemingly, everything is still alright and we should do nothing.

But of course the LIO was never real in that sense. Real are the consequences that follow the realization that russia is not an economic partner, but a threat and an enemy. If there was no LIO, or if we were in the past, we would already be at war with russia for attacking our vassal.

And that's to say nothing of the utter self betrayal that liberal economics has become. Bastiat has been rolling in his grave, and not because of some populist's tariffs.

I live in the real world, not in the construct of philosophers, and down here, liberal democracies are the most economically successful.

blame the west/liberalism for their 90s economic woes

I certainly don't. Maybe you can point the finger at some economists, but broadly it was the combination of Soviet idiocy and oligarch looting. Putin still gets credit for cleaning up the mess, as Napoleon once did for cleaning that of France.

You’re not citing these better-run countries you are admiring and enjoying,

The Republic of Singapore is one.

We have them here, and nothing happens.

Nothing? We got kicked out of the last website, the philosopher this board traces his lineage to got doxxed by the paper of record, and it's a pseudonymous forum.

Nothing happens? Plenty already did.

I think your entire ideology is based on a strawman of liberalism.

I guess being a Liberal for a decade and reading a ton of theory must mean I know nothing of the contents of the ideology.

down here, liberal democracies are the most economically successful.

Enjoy your lines going up because of debasement, that's your prerogative, so long as you do it away from me.