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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026

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Just pretend it's not happening, quietly absorb any pain that comes your way, and hope that things will go back to the way they were

This is a bigger issue than most non-Americans think it is, though. Or at least their elites. Turns out that when you treat your country as an economic zone people won't go to war, and when you treat your young like that they will hang the old out to dry. It's not 1900 any more.

We already know how much disruption modern citizens will tolerate to their daily lives without picking up a rifle themselves because 2020. The people can care a lot less about who runs their country.

How do you explain how hard ukraine and russia have been going at it?

People in 1900 didn't think it was 1900, either. They thought they "were over" war, too. Then they partook in it with gusto, partly because of that evergreen illusion.

How do you explain how hard ukraine and russia have been going at it?

The one-word (and the 20th century) answer is "nationalism", the one-sentence answer is "because being under the Russian empire is still in living memory and they would prefer the American one, also conscription" on the Ukrainian side and "because the Army is paying quite a bit, also conscription" on the Russian side.

People in 1900 didn't think it was 1900, either. They thought they "were over" war, too.

The world was a lot more multi-polar back then and the subjects living under those empires actually felt common cause with that empire. Hence colony willingness to participate in the Great European Mass Suicide of 1914. No, I think the only war your average first-world citizen would fight (ignoring the US, because they're the only Western country for which the above applies) is civil, let alone its average military-aged male.

Jingoism is still mostly the domain of the old, though.

Any nation can do conscription and pay. Pacifists are always disappointed. People of all ages love war initially, it's cool.