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PaperclipPerfector  8d ago (text post)   24411 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 20, 2025

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I want to talk about the AI video that Trump reposted, where he is flying a plane with 'King Trump' on the side, wearing a crown, dumping a payload of feces on a crowd of No Kings protestors in NYC.

Frankly, I keep thinking I can't be surprised anymore by the depths which Trump (or more realistically, his social media team0 will stoop too, and yet here we are...

Ultimately as a Christian, I find this sort of blatant hatred and mockery of the outgroup quite disturbing. I understand that staid, boring, conservatism has lost majorly over the last few decades. I understand that the right needs some vitalism, some dynamism, some sort of way to act in an agentic way that isn't just mindlessly opposing whatever progressives are doing at the moment, and then slowly backing off and letting progressives have what they want over the course of a few years.

However, I'm not sure the juice is worth the squeeze. At this point, while Trump definitely is effective at rallying the base, I simply find his aesthetics to be revolting. It's hard to countenance not just the outright hatred of the outgroup, but the sheer crassness that is presented here.

Not just that, but why would he egg on this idea that he wants to be king? It makes zero strategic sense from my perspective, all it does is fan the flames. I suppose if he wants to fan the flames of the culture war, fine, but that's also not something I'm behind.

Anyway, the current coalition of the right, where Christian or even just classical conservatives are sort of holding their nose and voting for Trump, seems increasingly unstable to me. I suppose we'll see how things end up.

Ultimately as a Christian, I find this sort of blatant hatred and mockery of the outgroup quite disturbing.

I simply find his aesthetics to be revolting.

What would you say your take is on the aesthetics of Saint Louis the IX?

Louis IX's reign is often marked as an economic and political zenith for medieval France, and he held immense respect throughout Christendom.

Louis was a staunch Christian and rigorously enforced Catholic orthodoxy. He enacted harsh laws against blasphemy,[5] and he also launched actions against France's Jewish population, including ordering them to wear a yellow badge of shame, as well as the notorious burning of the Talmud following the Disputation of Paris.

The loss of Damietta again shocked the Muslim world, and, like his father thirty years ago, as-Salih Ayyub offered to trade Damietta for Jerusalem. The offer was rejected as Louis refused to negotiate with an infidel.

Or the aesthetics of Charles Martel?

Prince Charles boldly drew up his battle lines against them [the Arabs] and the warrior rushed in against them. With Christ's help, he overturned their tents and hastened to battle to grind them small in slaughter. The king Abdirama having been killed, he destroyed [them], driving forth the army, he fought and won. Thus did the victor triumph over his enemies.

Perhaps Saint Bede’s aesthetics when discussing the Hammer of the Moors?

"... a dreadful plague of Saracens ravaged France with miserable slaughter, but they not long after in that country received the punishment due to their wickedness"

Speaking of Saracens, I always enjoy the very modern quote that Ridley Scott puts into Saladin’s mouth in Kingdom of Heaven

Mullah: [the mullah pays a visit to Saladin in his tent after the battle at Kerak] Why did we retire? Why? God did not favor them. God alone determines the results of battles.

Saladin: The results of battles ARE determined by God, but also by preparation, numbers, the absence of disease, and the availability of water. One cannot maintain a siege with the enemy behind. How many battles did God win for the Muslims before I came... that is, before God determined that I should come?

Mullah: Few enough. That's because we were sinful.

Saladin: It is because you were unprepared.

Mullah: If you think that way, you shall not be king for long.

Saladin: [Saladin rises to his feet] When I'm not king, I quake for Islam.

I would happily take a King who refuses to negotiate with infidels, or who grinds them small in slaughter, or delivers them the punishment due to their wickedness, over someone who cares about modern liberal aesthetics. That’s how my side, any side really, gets lasting victories.

This is all a Motte-appropriate long winded way to say, “Modern liberal aesthetics have sucked the nobility and grandeur out of everything. We’ve got to go through the grinding small part before we get out the other end and back to the beautiful and noble aesthetics that I suspect you and I both prefer.”

What would you say your take is on the aesthetics of Saint Louis the IX?

My immediate take is that he's a Catholic saint after the schism, so I do not consider him a valid Saint.

In general I am willing to throw much of Christianity's sordid association with temporal and state power under the bus, and deny it as a twisting of Christ's Gospel.

I mean, orthodox caesaropapism being what it is, don’t you think your distaste for strong rulership is even harder to justify there?

Probably! I didn't come to Orthodoxy because of the history of the church, I came to it because God led me there. Frankly every church has committed horrible atrocities throughout their history. The Catholic ones are more well known, but Orthodoxy has our fair share of skeletons too for sure.

Anyone who thinks their specific church is spotless is simply deluded.

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