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Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 30, 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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This isn't purely an Indian concept, I've seen this type of thing in mainland Chinese behaviour too.

This is also a solid characterization of typical western progressive behavior (and in Eastern Bloc countries under Soviet rule), too, which is perhaps why the two get along so well.

Co-ordination of meanness (of value-finders/productive people) combined with weak state capacity can delete Izzet by deleting its followers when they attack- personal firearms meant a defender could delete an outsized number of attackers, so peace was forced that way- which is why as states weakened coincident with the ability to co-ordinate meanness growing (which is why the Enlightenment happened when it did) Izzet was mostly suppressed in the West.

Once state capacity eclipses the individual's ability to escape it, though, the followers of Izzet tend to be among the first to capture it if the citizenry doesn't wield it appropriately and crush them. This typically requires a monarch, though, since wielding political power that effectively requires a citizenry that is able, willing, and has enough time to do so... and that's not an evolved behavior like Izzet is.

Again, I don't think this is a uniquely Eastern thing- it's visible everywhere you look, should you choose.