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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 8, 2025

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I think it a dumb norm generally.

Do you think we should avoid speaking ill of, even flattering, Jeffrey Epstein? Joseph Stalin? Mao Zedong? They are all dead!

You say it's generally a dumb norm, but to prove it you parade around some of the worst men who have ever lived? Sounds more like special pleading.

What if we replace them with unlikeable, but relatively average people? Should I avoid speaking ill of Destiny, Ethan Klein, or Hassan Piker, if they die? I think so.

I don't. If you think they were shitty and did shitty things you should feel free to say so.

There's a reason why you didn't use average people as examples originally, and it's because you know it would make your argument unconvicing.

Incredible mind reading powers you have. I chose the examples I did because they illustrate there are cases where ~everyone agrees there are dead that it is fine to speak ill of.

I chose the examples I did because they illustrate there are cases where ~everyone agrees there are dead that it is fine to speak ill of.

You said it's a generally dumb rule. Extreme cases are very bad at proving generality, and I'm having a lot of trouble believing that you don't understand that.

I do not expect everyone to agree with me from the jump, as this thread illustrates. It is a progressive argument. Once we agree there are some cases where it's appropriate we can haggle over the line.

You are not even proving that it's appropriate, just that it's understandable. Even then, since you made the claim that's it's a generally dumb rule, you have to show it's applicable to the average person. An extreme case does nothing to prove your position. If you said it's occasionally a dumb, then your argument would make some sense.