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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025

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This video was posted on December 26th.

Do you think it was filmed the day it was released?

I'll admit the misspelled "learing center" was a nice touch

Yeah, misspelling your school's name on it's front door is a 'nice touch'.

I'm not going to make the positive claim that these institutions are all above board and the victim of selective editing.

So what are you claiming? You seem to just be swatting lazily enough to not have to think any harder about it. Come on out with a prediction here. Of course Nick Shirly, a 23 year old youtuber isn't going to be a button up investigator, which makes it all the more damning if he's the one to whistle blow massive fraud.

So massive fraud or not?

Yes, massive fraud. No, this video isn't proof of it. This video is just outrage bait.

Was this filmed the day it was released? No, could have been filmed... December 25th? December 24th? It clearly wasn't filmed in the Summer. It's not like this was a culmination of years of investigation.

There's enough CONFIRMED fraud going on in the Somali community that your priors that this sort of business is fraudulent, at least to some large degree, should be high enough to make an educated guess rather than outright dismissal.

Plus, the Boomer guy straight up says he's been paying attention to this for years.

So in a sense, yes, yes it is a culmination of years of investigation.

There's a pretty simple argument to suggest that fraud, if it can be proven to exist at all, is probably pretty rampant in Somali communities.

Premises:

  1. The Somali community in Minnesota is probably tight-knit and interconnected, moreso than most other groups in the state. Lots of communication channels amongst them and between different circles of them.

  2. The Somali community would thus likely be aware that there's a bunch of sketchy daycare business operated in their area, and these receive federal/state funds.

  3. Nobody notable in the Somali community has raised an alarm as to this practice, and I've not heard a single word of condemnation from any of them. Quite the opposite.


What might we conclude about the Somali community?

Do we conclude that they are harsh and intolerant of fraudulent behavior in their midst? That they are quite honest and rule-following on average?

Or is the obvious implication the precise opposite, that the majority of them are probably cool with fraud going on (maybe they don't even see it as immoral) even if they're not participating, and good many of them are participating?


Or which premise do you take issue with?

Are Somalis NOT tight knit in this area? Do they somehow NOT know that their family and neighbors run these sketchy daycares? Or are they actually coming forward and reporting on fraud all the time, but they're ignored?

Which premise fails?


Your analogy falls apart the second you notice that Christians are constantly calling each other out and even condemning each other for preaching falsehoods (as they see it) and are not prone to covering for each other merely because of shared theological beliefs.

Famously, individual denominations take massive issue of tiny disagreements in interpretation and are quite happy to make their disagreements known, and distance themselves from 'heretical' street preachers and the like.

Or which premise do you take issue with?

What exactly do you think I am saying here. I take issue with 0 of the premises. I also hate this video. What is being misunderstood?

My analogy to a Christian street preacher does not fall apart because the whole point is that it's not all that weird to call out arguments you hate that are on your side! I am against fraud and against Somalis that don't assimilate remaining in America. I also hate that the video is what got people interested in the problem. Just like I would be alarmed if a video of a street preacher acting crazy was getting attention as the one true proof of Christ's divinity.

I am against fraud and against Somalis that don't assimilate remaining in America. I also hate that the video is what got people interested in the problem.

This is complete "Who gives a shit?" territory and the only reason people are responding is because they think you're making a larger point than you are. Nobody thinks there isn't fraud, including you apparently, and nobody is going to stop noticing because some youtuber didn't follow your preferred protocols.

I hoped we'd all care about not looking like fools, but apparently that's concern trolling or something.

If you're not looking a fool at least some of the time, you're not doing anything of consequence.

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