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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 12, 2025

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https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1923128567996780750

I've been in the middle of some bullshit outrage cycles in my day, but the one that some of you cooked up this week is probably the fakest of all. There are even "conservatives" hounding me and demanding that I apologize for a hidden swastika that someone else posted in a tweet that I replied to.

Just to be perfectly clear to all of the slimy little smear merchants playing this game: I apologize for nothing. I owe you nothing. I will not explain myself to you. You all know exactly what you're doing. If anyone is owed an apology in this situation, it's me. But I don't expect one because that would require a level of honor and honesty that none of these trolls possess. Piss off. All of you. There's my statement, for the many who have asked.

It's pretty clever, on my computer I wouldn't have seen it if someone hadn't said something. I could tell it was AI though. When the image is small it's clear as day. He didn't tweet it, he didn't even retweet it, he replied disagreeing with the person who posted the picture and statement.

DESPITE... usually being a Noticer, I couldn't see the swastika either upon opening the image, but the squinting trick worked for (on?) me. Kind of a small mindfuck. Maybe I am a normie (marvel_vision.jpg).

I'm unfamiliar with Walsh beyond the vague baseline awareness he's some sort of right-coded influencer, but this makes me like him—instead of bending the knee—going with the McGregor "I'd like to take this chance to apologize... to absolutely nobody" and also (possibly) calling out mainstream conservatives for being progressives driving the speed limit, although the quotes around conservatives could be in reference to progressives posing in a "hello, fellow conservatives" kind of way.

I saw the image that Walsh replied to on 4chan several days ago. The swastika is much more noticeable in a 4chan thumbnail before you open the full size image.