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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   2955 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 21, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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At what point can one reasonably conclude that coexistence between the Red and Blue tribes isn't possible, and there's nothing left to do but wage the culture war as hard as necessary, until one side or the other fully triumphs? And what does one do after reaching that conclusion (besides leaving this site, of course, since that runs counter to the basic ethos of the Motte)?

If you're on the left, you can join a non-profit and fight for whatever issue you want to champion. Pay is dreadful until you're an executive. You can get a Masters in Public Admin and go to work at the city/county/state level and push your pet issue (in a blue area) or do your best to frustrate the elected officials (the latter is a common occurrence in red areas--every person with an MPA seems to be on the left and working against whatever the elected officials want to implement). You can try to go to work for an elected official directly, but that's a tough route unless you're the right age and have appropriate connections.

If you're on the right, non-profits are much rarer, although some like Pacific Legal do exist. Organizations like Kirk's TPUSA are mostly looking for volunteers unless you have specific litigation/organizational experience they need. If you're in a red area, you could try the MPA-to-government route--they might be shocked and pleased to have an applicant that isn't a leftist.

If you're on the right

I'm probably too far to the right for the "normie" right-wing organizations.

If you're in a red area, you could try the MPA-to-government route

MPA? What does that stand for?

Masters in Public Administration.

Ah, thanks for explaining.

Looking at UAA's requirements, I don't meet them (my bachelor's is in physics, which means I fail the "Have completed a minimum of 6 credits in baccalaureate level Political Science (3 credits) and Descriptive/Inferential Statistics (3 credits) with a minimum grade of B" requirement).

Besides, I couldn't afford the tuition to go back to school (I can barely afford to keep myself housed and fed).

I mean, there’s a historically proven solution to the coexistence of two tribes that dont get along- it’s rum millet. Illegal in the US, sûre. But there’s no reason for it to be incompatible with a functioning industrial society.

I expect a red/black/blue millet system would make everyone happy. Americans are old, fat, and rich and don’t want to reenact thé Lebanese civil war.

I expect a red/black/blue millet system would make everyone happy.

Not the blues, for the reasons I give here. The Blue tribe will never accept genuine federalism, or a millet system, or any other "Peace of Westphalia"-type ending to the culture war.

I expect a red/black/blue millet system would make everyone happy.

Except for any group that derives its power from managing the relations between all of the others surely? Or any group that thinks it has more to gain from pooling resources with other groups? Between the two there's enough power/numbers to veto any such proposal.

And what does one do after reaching that conclusion (besides leaving this site, of course, since that runs counter to the basic ethos of the Motte)?

There are users here, mods even, that have reached this conclusion and they still manage to contribute. I don't think there's great arguments to wage the culture war online as a good use of your time unless you get paid for it or your name is JD Vance. A normal citizen moves to a stronghold of their tribe and builds a life there. Maybe purchase a firearm.

A normal citizen moves to a stronghold of their tribe

Can't move, but at least my state is rather red (if the city is not)

and builds a life there.

I've done about as much of that as my disability allows (meaning basically nothing)

Maybe purchase a firearm.

Prior psychiatric hospitalizations mean I can't.

Pardon me, then. Black powder may not be much good for security as BP weapons aren't firearms, but they do shoot lead. More importantly the hobby as I understand is fun, has a good following of mature adult men, and a healthy number of groups that share in it.

If you are able to get around, then I'll throw out the proven suggestion for the end of: church! Or, whichever local religious service seems most appealing to you. That is if you do not currently attend one. A community of Christian faith is most unlikely to hack you to pieces with a machetes just because the country has fallen to tatters.

If these things are not possible, then I still think you should rest a little easier knowing that most of us are about as relatively helpless to happenings of this scale. Few of us are as prepared as we can be for the end of coexistence. Fewer can be meaningfully prepared, disability or no, and only a tiny number can change the fate of our nation whatever it may be. It is better to not dwell on it as nothing ever happens.

Or, whichever local religious service seems most appealing to you.

None of them in my area seem to: not the Mexican cult; not the black Baptist church whose webpage advertises events by local Dem politicians; not the Lutheran church whose woman pastor's LinkedIn page has rainbow flags; and not the "you should already be Catholic before setting foot inside" Byzantine Catholic church. (The racist Islander Church appears to have moved or shut down.) None of them seem like they'd be welcoming environments for me (another problem with being a far-right atheist).

If 'waging culture war' consists of getting angry over the internet, then I think we can expect that to happen for as long as it takes to develop the necessary cultural antibodies to unplug from the outrage machine.

America is too rich and too old for a real civil war. So is most of the world.

At what point can one reasonably conclude that coexistence between the Red and Blue tribes isn't possible, and there's nothing left to do but wage the culture war as hard as necessary, until one side or the other fully triumphs?

When civil war breaks out.

And what does one do after reaching that conclusion (besides leaving this site, of course, since that runs counter to the basic ethos of the Motte)?

Pick up your gun and join the side that seems slightly less evil.

Anything less should be salvageable.

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