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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 5, 2026

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This is a remarkably good scissor statement, in that I find the people being mean to him insufferable, and even inasmuch as I might find the Sillicon Valley Crypto Guy of it all mockable, I still have an innate rage at people dismissing him as a shitty dad.

I don't think this is a scissor statement, I think it's a different (and more traditional) social failure mode.

Plenty of things in life everyone knows but can't say, in an increasingly feminized society this is way worse.

It's the "all my girlfriends are perfect 10s dressed impeccably all the time and even look great without makeup!" bullshit.

Yes having kids sucks. It is also great. Society has decided some parts of having kids you are allowed to complain about and some you are not. Society has decided nerds are fair game to criticize. Etc etc.

This is just a matter of what thoughts are approved to be voiced in public, and what types of people are allowed to be supported.

The most scissorish bit is the way it triggers a bunch of other conversations, but that also happens with "you can't say Sara looks fat in that dress!" "But she clearly does! She weighs over 300 pounds! And she asked!"

"Spending time with small children is boring and I hate it and would prefer to do as little of it as possible" is a classic scissor statement: some large portion of the people who read it think it is obviously true and no right thinking non-lobotomized person could think otherwise, and some large portion of the people who read it think it is obviously false and no right thinking person with a soul could think it was true.

Isn't the answer "this is obviously true and you have no soul" ?

Small children are frequently annoying, and frequently not very stimulating. Sometimes they are interesting and stimulating, but anyone pretending that is common is biased.

On the other side, spending quality time with your children isn't optional, and to complain that the life you brought into the world, with the full knowledge that kids are attention black holes, is stupid? And cruel, and soulless.

If you hate kids, don't have them. If you have kids, give them attention so they don't develop attachment issues, even if that's annoying. Complaining about it just makes you sound stupid or evil.

gr8 b8 m8 8/8

I genuinely meant all of this, in all seriousness, I have no idea how "yes kids are annoying but no you can't neglect them as a result" is bait

Again, most people hearing that statement both agree and disagree with it to some extent, and have a variable level of feeling across their lifespan both acutely and chronically (ex: I'm pissed at my kids right now so I say X) and also have a wide disconnect between how they feel about it and what they are saying in public.

It is a sliding scale of both interpretation of the statement and also of disconnect between private and public presentation of beliefs.

Scissor statements are more binary Yes or No, Left or Right, Up or Down.

Just because something creates argument doesn't mean it is a scissor statement.