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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31028 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 16, 2023

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Prediction challenge: The NYT recently released an article on the likely result of the supreme court ending affirmative action. What is the most common sentiment in the comments? (As measured by "reader picks", most recommended comments.)

To play, make a prediction regarding the NYT readership's first thought on ending affirmative action, in your head (easy mode) or in a reply to this comment (hard mode). Then read the most recommended comments here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/15/us/affirmative-action-admissions-scotus.html#commentsContainer Without editing your original prediction, reflect on how you did.

The problem for the right is that these people also see Republicans as idiotic religious hicks who want to enforce the pro-life position on them and “hate science” and believe the earth is 6000 years old, so even if SCOTUS scraps affirmative action and it makes them happy, they won’t vote for the GOP.

It's thoroughly mutual. The GOP hates the PMCs and elites that dominate colleges as much as said wokes hate them. I assume their goal is to break their power, not get them to vote for them. EDIT: Because they'll pivot to "defending" Asians and minorities but mainly to attack the woke.

Or, that would be the wise course. This generation at least is a lost cause.

If the GOP hated college administrators they could get rid of them in red states with the stroke of a pen. I wish they did but I think they mostly see colleges as trustworthy but infiltrated by a few marxist professors.

The GOP's agenda is not written by the sorts of people who think about administration, it's written by religious and business interests. Now religious interests are slowly growing more opposed to public education's administration, but it's not a major focus compared to the gays.

It's thoroughly mutual. The GOP hates the PMCs and elites that dominate colleges as much as said wokes hate them.

Is it really? I think the GOP has a sort of mournful regret as to what has happened to colleges, media, government agencies, etc. Most of the GOP would press the "fix them nicely" button. Those who have fallen into hatred seem to largely have done so out of repeated beatings and exposure to their preferences being ignored or even worse.

I think the GOP has a sort of mournful regret as to what has happened to colleges

Sure, and I've heard leftists lament about the days of reasonable conservatives or how workers in Kansas have allowed the GOP to make them degenerate politically ("how can vote against their interests like this?" is the general tone)

Who here thinks the Left doesn't loathe conservatives because of that?

The GOP is on the outs in college and media. Of course they would mourn losing their position and of course they would prefer to regain it with minimal sacrifice. Doesn't mean hate hasn't flourished. Quite the opposite: that's precisely the issue.

Most of the GOP would press the "fix them nicely" button.

I'm sure the Left would say this too. Especially since I think they trend towards rejecting direct aggression and tit-for-tat as a value more than conservatives (while finding ways to rationalize doing it)

Everybody has a theory about how the other side drew first blood and they really didn't want to do this and they want to go back to when everyone got along but they were forced to be this way their opponents.

It's not of much concern to me today, because partisans will either line up with the more hate-filled, malicious comrades or they will be those comrades. So the polarization and the Culture War will continue, no matter what self-serving tales each side spins as they strike the other.

There's an enormous difference between a party wanting to fix an ostensibly-neutral institution (nicely or otherwise), and a party wanting to fix their opponent. That is, the GOP wanting to fix colleges is not paralleled by the Democrats wanting to fix the GOP. (And I suspect the Democrats mostly want to fix the GOP in the sense that you fix a pet)

I'm sure the Left would say this too. Especially since I think they trend towards rejecting direct aggression and tit-for-tat as a value more than conservatives (while finding ways to rationalize doing it)

I don't even know what a "nicely fixed" GOP would look like to Democrats. They certainly didn't think John McCain or Mitt Romney were anything but racist sexists when they were running for president.

There's a group which hates the PMCs (largely blue collar Trump Republicans), but the establishment GOP would definitely press "fix them nicely". There's a fairly small group which has figured out that there is no "fix them nicely" button but it's rather insignificant, with the major exception of DeSantis.

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