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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026

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Having a bunch of masked men carrying guns rushing at you and reaching into your car suddenly is fucking terrifying to even imagine happening

Ok, so:

  • It was one man, not "a bunch"
  • He didn't "rush" at her
  • "suddenly" is a lie"

You already know these things, I assume, having watched the videos? Or you didn't, and are constructing a convenient alternate scenario that didn't happen.

Either way: do you genuinely, actually believe she found this "fucking terrifying"?

As she smirks, smiles, sneers, and looks delighted, you think she was actually secretly fucking terrified?

This is an actual question. It has a yes/no answer. She was either fucking terrified, or she wasn't. The videos all indicate, to the best of our knowledge, that she obviously wasn't terrified; but you seem to be happy to assume, in spite of all evidence, that she was. Why?

Does it change anything that she wasnt?

Not that it matters at all because it certainly wouldn't move the needle in anyone's mind, but:

  • it was 2 guys approaching her from the left, not one. https://youtube.com/watch?v=K9CJY5p0xz4
  • it's not clear how "suddenly" was a lie. That seems subjective and open to interpretation. It's 3 seconds between the guy getting out of his truck and trying to open her door
  • we got like half a second of grainy vid to interpret that she smirked and smiled after the guy grabbed her door, afterwards she looked down and closed her mouth. So even if her initial expression was a smile (inconclusively), it's not unreasonable to assume her expression simply stayed frozen for a moment when that occurred and her inner emotions were more panicky than what can be gleaned from the few frames of visual evidence. See the 39th second of this video: https://x.com/alphanews/status/2009679932289626385.

Anyway, I just think she wasn't obviously not terrified. Could she have been terrified? Yes. The situation was scary to a reasonable person, and she tried to escape, quickly, which is certainly evidence, not conclusive evidence, but evidence nonetheless. Would it also be reasonable to conclude that she wasn't terrified based on the video evidence and your priors? Also yes.

it was 2 guys approaching her from the left, not one

That's fair -- I was focusing on the guy who opened the car door, but yeah, you're right. I still object to "a bunch".

it's not clear how "suddenly" was a lie

They had enough time to say "get out of the (fucking) car" 3 times. When people are insisting that 1 second is an eternity for perfect deliberation when an SUV is accelerating towards you, then that 3+ second gap cannot be considered "suddenly". I wouldn't call it a lie, but it's not an accurate characterisation of events.

we got like half a second of grainy vid to interpret that she smirked and smiled

You're overselling the graininess and underselling how much time we can see her. I'm not "interpreting" anything. You can see her being cheery, smiling, smirky, and -- like her wife -- clearly enjoying being able to LARP as the plucky rebels against the fascist stormtroopers.

Like, come on. The idea that she panicked is based on the idea that she was just innocently turning around in the street, and ICE -- who she wasn't expecting -- spooked her. We know that's not true! She and her wife were deliberately antagonising ICE; they knew exactly who they were dealing with.

It is, in fact, completely unreasonable to watch that interaction and go "oh poor lamb, she was terrified and panicking!"

They had enough time to say "get out of the (fucking) car" 3 times. When people are insisting that 1 second is an eternity for perfect deliberation when an SUV is accelerating towards you, then that 3+ second gap cannot be considered "suddenly". I wouldn't call it a lie, but it's not an accurate characterisation of events.

But you aren't arguing with people insisting that 1 second is an eternity for perfect deliberation. Neither @magicalkittycat nor I made that claim. Taking that into context, isn't it possible for us to characterize a few seconds as "suddenly" and still be logically consistent? And you did call it a lie, not just inaccurate.

I was also not overselling how much time we could see her. It was literally less than a second we get to see her mouth open after they try to forcefully open the door. She can enjoy LARPing as a plucky rebel when the single ICE officer was filming and circling her vehicle and then get spooked by the escalation when multiple other agents approach and try to grab her door. They are not mutually exclusive.

This ignores the context that she had been barricading the road for four minutes. An LEO trying to get you out of the car was an obvious outcome and really ought not create panic.

The panic meme is consistent with “random place at the wrong time” meme. We known that meme is false. Based on video and the context, the panic meme appears false as well.

There was a similar streak running through the height of MeToo and the craze over women allegedly being sexually abused or mistreated.

After that night, she was:

1 - Skittish, withdrawn, flighty, uncommunicative, outwardly depressed.

Clear signs of trauma. Tell-tale indicators of abuse.

2 - She was outgoing, social, active, and saw the guy several times afterwards, expressing excitement to her friends.

...Also clear signs of trauma! Also indicators of abuse! Just repressed. Textbook diagnosis.

Which - y'know - both can be true depending on the person. It's also completely convenient and unworkable.

I had a coworker who got held up at gunpoint while opening a store in the AM. By the time I came in, he had a large grin plastered to his face and was almost hysterically laughing. Superficially not what what one may expect, but still registered as obvious trauma to me because of how erratic and unhinged he was. I get that peoples' nerves can fray differently.

But that's not what I see with Good.