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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025

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Why does regular bombing campaigns leaving the country unable to create the necessary infrastructure not a viable path forward?

You don't need the US to be directly involved for that. Israel can handle it all on their own.

I see no particular reason we can't just annihilate them.

"Annihilating" Iran, Carthage (or Circassia) style, isn't on the table.

That depends entirely on who's making the decisions, I think. I'm going to vote for people who are okay with destroying our enemies.

It would help to identify our enemies first. Iranians are friendlier to Western Civilization than Israelis.

No, the Muslims chanting death to America are not my friends, no matter how much you, I, or anyone else hate Jews.

Most Iranians are not religious and do not support the government, which sics foreign militias to oppress them. I speak Persian and have spent much time among them. Every couple of years there are massive riots, with thousands of deaths, as people fight back.

Even then, much of the Shia clergy opposes the regime; Khamenei isn't even a marja let alone the first among equals nor most popular religious leader within Iran itself. To concede a bit, at any rate they're friendlier than the Saudis and Emiratis, Shia are far more compatible and friendly with our world (but again, religiosity's similar to Czechia. Here's a survey giving 30% as Shia, only 40% as Muslim at all.)


strictly bans Western music and most other Western cultural output - @Hoffmeister25

Khatami relaxed that, already. Besides nowadays, everyone has a VPN. You can talk to plenty of Iranians right now, even with the attempted internet lock down, even if this isn't real. Personally, I'd only wish success to someone banning Disney, rap etc.

To react to your bailey, @The_Nybbler haven't many in this community opposed this government and arana imperii, ascribing modernity's ills to it?

Besides nowadays, everyone has a VPN. You can talk to plenty of Iranians right now, even with the attempted internet lock down, even if this isn't real.

You're making the same error Thomas Dewey did, talking to a small, wealthy, and unrepresentative set of Iranians.

Iran has 80% VPN penetration. How is that a "small, wealthy, and unrepresentative set"? Although I can be wrong, I'm specifically stating that this isn't just a narrow elite - that the Iranian people are majority friendly/not anti-American islamists.

Thomas Dewey

What are you referring to? I didn't understand but would like to!

So you don't mean that Dewey talked to a small, wealthy, and unrepresentative set and made some mistake? Do you mean that the reporter, Arthur Sears Henning or the newspaper made this error? Or sample bias in early-available data?

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