@Blueberry comments on "Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026

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Blueberry 12hr ago

In the ACX Mark Russel posted this comment:

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/open-thread-418/comment/205404360

A letter from Minneapolis

I have a weird job so I pretty much get winters off. Jill and I could go somewhere warm but lately we have been going to visit our friends in Minneapolis, where she lived before we married. we stay 4-8 weeks, depending, in the dead of winter because we love our friends here and we love this city.

ICE showed up to start their "Metro Surge" before I got here, and immediately started making like difficult wherever they went. They were atrociously rude drivers. They made belligerent sidewalk scenes during apprehensions. The active folks started following them around, using Signal chats and group texts, blowing whistles to gather crowds. But you could go about your business, which we did. Records stores, restaurants, the worlds largest cross-country ski snow-making operation!

And museums, lots of great museums. We were at the Minneapolis Institute of Art's (the 'Tute, colloquially) amazing Cambodian bronze exhibit, admiring casts of metal alloys from as much as 3000 years ago when my friends phone started blowing up. "Jesus fucking christ ICE just killed a woman."

Renee Good was shot 14 blocks from our house, on W33rd, due East, on Chicago between 33rd and 34th. Minneapolis is mostly a grid, with long blocks and short blocks; these were the long blocks. That evening we walked our way there to join the crowded impromptu memorial/demonstration. The public had blocked off some streets to car traffic, with an ad-hoc combination of civil volunteers in reflective vests and some leery MPD. The level of organization of the volunteers was remarkable. There were megaphones and speechifying, angry and concerned strangers getting comfort in the crowd, and lots and lots of swearing. ("Minnesota nice and fuck you ICE is pretty much how it goes now). A Xeroxed photo of Renee was taped to a lamp post.

I was on super high alert bc I can imagine and am a firm believer in edge cases, but there were no confrontations. I am not as brave as my wife, who acts from a strain of moral clarity that can sometimes be daunting.

Now our days were about protesting. It was like a part-time job, and we made sure to put in our time nearly every day at the Whipple, a Federal building where ICE and CPB were headquartered. The feds had hastily erected a perimeter fence of jersey barriers with posts and chain-link to secure the boundary. At the 4-way-stop intersection where the entrance was, the fence had wrapped around 2 of the stop signs, rendering them more or less invisible. There were dozens there the first day, swearing at ICE, holding signs, handing out hand-warmers. Press from all over were visible (it helps to wear PRESS on your front and back, for safety). Jill would yell "shame," and this has caught on enough that it could be audible on some news reports. Every time we went, the barriers were beefed up a little more. It started as an open sidewalk across from the entrance, at the 4-way, on both sides of the road leading to the indoor tennis club. Cars with tinted windows and/or masked men were to be yelled at and rudely gestured to. Regular folks got waves, but also some collateral damage of yelling. God help you if you were a normal guy in a pick-up truck. Tennis players would sheepishly wait for the crowd to clear so they could drive in and park. My sympathies were with them, these were their lives and happiness, after all. Other opinions were less generous. The Sheriffs were in charge of keeping the intersection clear, a thankless task. I thanked them anyway, when I could, and always waved and smiled. I was an outlier, as the protest set had learned habits and retained grievances from the time of George Floyd. To me the yelling and taunting at police was misplaced aggression, and counter productive but it was their town, not mine. By now there were 2800 ICE and CPB in the twin cities, while all the local police departments totaled 2400 personnel.

Still, we got up in the morning, put on our long underwear and gloves, yelled at the interlopers until we were cold/had to pee, then went out to lunch. I have done some great cc skiing, and he really begun to improve my form in the 'skate' technique. We went bowling. I walked to one of my favorite record stores in the world, Cheapos, and went through the stacks, adding Thin Lizzzy's "Vagabonds of the Western World" to my collection. We met people out for dinner at various restaurants, sometimes on the "eat street" row of Nicollette. A child of one couple at dinner--college friends of Jill--was reported to be doing IT work of a sort for Aerolamp, I think. Small world!

Alex Pretti was killed just south of Cheapos. The Meet-up Noodle, where we held a table for 8 just two nights earlier, is kitty-corner. Not to make it all about me, but that is a 15 minute walk of 7 short blocks from our hosts' home. I won't talk about his death because you know as much as I do.

Immediately after Jill and her friend went to the scene, and were soon commandeered into helping a first-aid site for tear-gas etc in a Middle Eastern restaurant two blocks south, that the MPD had cordoned off . There were few customers. When Jill was ready to leave I reminded her that it was way past lunch and we should eat before she crashed. I could see an active buffet in the Middle Eastern, and we grabbed some plates and had a great meal. The host brought us tea.

This is how it is done here, restaurants and other merchants immediately get in on the helping action. A sex shop in Lyn-Lake was coordinating a meal delivery service for those afraid to leave home. People walk around with cases of water and hand-warmers. School parents coordinate school bus and child drop-off's to protect kids from getting snatched. Yup, that is what citizens are organizing to prevent. And while the department of homeland security assures us that they are only arresting the worst of the worst 5-year-olds, I have my suspicions that that might not be the case.

Businesses are taking a noticeable beating in the cities. Restaurants are low-hanging fruit for agents with orders to ethnically profile anyone looking foreign. There are reports of agents lunching in restaurants, then returning later to round folks up, but of course I cannot verify it. Old protest grievances keep creeping into the discussion, with a large protest downtown (It was awesome to be with so many people braving the cold) being co-billed as a "general strike." Somehow capitalism and the general economy have been implicated, although I cannot figure how. All the restaurants are losing money. Shops and businesses were expected to close on Friday, a word eagerly spread through all local media. Confusion ensued. A hairdresser friend said his staff wanted the shop to close, but hair appointments being sacrosanct, a compromise was made: staff could donate their pay and the owners would match the donation. The people continue to have spectacular hair, even under the world's best collection of warm fuzzy winter hats. But make no mistake, the economy in this town is bleeding, and that cannot continue for long. Minneapolis is in a slow and fitfull recovery from the time of George Floyd, and the recent killings have sent the community into a backslide.

I thought I could come out here for a month, relax with friends, write some articles for my blog, do some skiing. Nate Silver, ever the pollster, says the country is largely sympathetic to Minneapolans, but says the country at large doesn't feel as though it is living in a time of creeping authoritarianism, and I get that. But out here, living in it, we just wonder "how many more?"

Context

ser Blueberry 5hr ago

This is such a strange and off-putting read. It's like he's trying to paint a picture of a nation under siege, while constantly undermining his own narrative by sprinkling in bits about ordinary vacation activities. There's a dark authoritarian fog settling in Minneapolis, our country is in deep danger and I'm right in the middle of it...Oh the museums in Minneapolis are fantastic by the way, Jill and I go every time we visit! It's clear he doesn't actually know what's going on and doesn't actually feel any danger, but it feels right to join the protest and yell random slogans. Jill even got the herd to chant SHAME and it got on TV, +1 cool story to share back home! Is this guy just a mop and since his wife feels strongly about it he's obliged to at least pretend it's a big deal to him too? Is it a need to belong to something and an anti government protest in whatever form is good ol' proven reliable option for it?

CertainlyWorse No one is coming to help. It's just you. ser 3hr ago

He doesn't talk about the why. Perhaps he truly believes it is self evident. 'I was just on holiday and then the nazis came, so I became the resistance.'

Something that stuck out for me was the 'only arresting the worst of the worst 5-year-olds'. The father abandoned the 5 year old to abscond from ICE. The author pretends that ICE is killing people randomly, arresting the innocent (including children) and otherwise being horrible people.

People really believe this? Its truly 2 movies, 1 screen.

Peace will eventually come. Reality always wins.

anti_dan Blueberry 7hr ago

I mean, isn't the answer, eventually, up to the people going out and harassing police? If I, a person with no criminal history, went to the house of a known murderer, and armed myself, and had compatriots in my pro-murder cause, then saw a fellow murderist being arrested and I tried to pull officers off my murderist friend, what would be the result?

We can hope the police are good enough to merely send me to prison for a few years. But, reality is that force in resistance of lawful authority endangers everyone in the vicinity, including officers and yourself. ANd if an officer kills a bystander, I am the one who should be charged with murder.

theSinisterMushroom Blueberry 8hr ago · Edited 7hr ago

Revolutions are intoxicating, I can see how you'd be swept up into the love bombing for being on the right side of history. But it seems to me that the blue leaders in Minnesota/Minneapolis are trying to engineer a siege mentality in their base.

black and white thinking, social conformity, and lack of trust, but also a preparedness for the worst and a strong sense of social cohesion.

Some bits that caught my attention

ICE showed up to start their "Metro Surge" before I got here, and immediately started making like difficult wherever they went. They were atrociously rude drivers. They made belligerent sidewalk scenes during apprehensions. The active folks started following them around, using Signal chats and group texts, blowing whistles to gather crowds.

I'm sure in his (Jill's?) version of history the local activists only started impeding ICE activities after being exposed to their rude driving, since as Minnesotans they're just too nice to just let belligerence like that go.

It was awesome to be with so many people braving the cold

You can feel the energy, the belonging, like being bombed with love.

To me the yelling and taunting at police was misplaced aggression, and counter productive but it was their town, not mine.

we got up in the morning, put on our long underwear and gloves, yelled at the interlopers until we were cold/had to pee, then went out to lunch. I have done some great cc skiing, and he really begun to improve my form in the 'skate' technique.

were soon commandeered into helping a first-aid site for tear-gas etc in a Middle Eastern restaurant two blocks south [...] it was way past lunch and we should eat before she crashed. I could see an active buffet in the Middle Eastern, and we grabbed some plates and had a great meal. The host brought us tea.

If you didn't catch the cognitive dissonance in the main text above, no worries, his reply further down (quoted by @phailyoor) should make you do a double take

they are nearly invisible. The closest I have been is watching a Charger with tinted windows out my bedroom window in the morning [...] we were alerted that they were at the elementary school around the block [...] it as all over before she got there. not sure what ever happened. [...] I have occasionally heard the sound of dozens of whistles being blown in the distance, and seen the rising cloud of dispersal smoke

So it sounds like if you're a legal resident not looking for trouble you're perfectly safe?

I have also been present while crowds waited for them to leave apartment buildings. I split those scenes.

Yeah, it might ruin your appetite for the tapas dinner to hang around there.

https://old.reddit.com/r/minnesota/comments/1qn6dfp/ice_agents_and_what_looks_like_police_stand_at/ https://old.reddit.com/r/minnesota/comments/1qn81j3/protestors_have_taken_over_the_hotel_ice_is/

But out here, living in it, we just wonder "how many more?"

Living in what? Some light protesting before the apres-ski? If you truly believe this is authoritarianism, why not beg Jill to lend you your balls back so you can go spit some ICE officers in the face. Make sure to take some weaponry, you're fighting Nazis after all.

Opt-out theSinisterMushroom 8hr ago

“ Revolutions are intoxicating, I can see how you'd be swept up into the love bombing for being on the right side of history.”

Isn’t the central American Revolutionary mythology basically false? No taxation without representation is basically bullshit? Everything I have seen indicates total attempted taxation was like 1-2% of colonial income which to modern me basically feels like zero. My gut says having the British Navy to protect trade lanes was probably worth that contribution. British subjects in Britain were paying something like 20%.

I think that would be something like being a US allied country today and equivalent to the 3% of gdp to the military within NATO.

I guess you can make an argument that it still needed to happen for the country to grow and achieve manifest destiny. I have forgotten a lot of history so perhaps there were pressing concerns but that’s a lot of blood to be spilled to not paying a small tax where you also got some military protection. It doesn’t feel like a war that could have passed any just war theory.

theSinisterMushroom Opt-out 6hr ago · Edited 5hr ago

Isn’t the central American Revolutionary mythology basically false? No taxation without representation is basically bullshit? Everything I have seen indicates total attempted taxation was like 1-2% of colonial income which to modern me basically feels like zero.

Maybe, but I think taxes were in general lower back then. Income tax for example didn't exist, and neither did sales tax (some goods were excise taxed), leaving land, poll, and other assorted local taxes. One may grumble at their taxes going to the local corrupt politician, but you can shame them or vote them out.

So I think that it was mostly a matter of principle for them. The Americans didn't view themselves as a British colony/territory, but citizens. When they were scorned by the king they probably saw themselves as fighting for a say in their own future.

Incidentally, if the Puerto Ricans made a similar argument with similar fervor, it might behoove the United States to give them a senator or let them go.

phailyoor Blueberry 10hr ago · Edited 10hr ago

And in the replies a very telling piece of information by the same poster:

how noticeable is ICE presence to ordinary Minneapolis citizens (who are neither seeking them out or avoiding them)?

Oddly enough, they are nearly invisible. The closest I have been is watching a Charger with tinted windows out my bedroom window in the morning, going a lot faster than prudent around the corner. Soon we were alerted that they were at the elementary school around the block. My host, a retired public teacher, went to respond, but it as all over before she got there. not sure what ever happened. Walking uptown, I have occasionally heard the sound of dozens of whistles being blown in the distance, and seen the rising cloud of dispersal smoke, a blob roughly 100' wide by 100' high, that is their parting shot, as if they were magicians. I have also been present while crowds waited for them to leave apartment buildings. I split those scenes.

There's no invasion. Ice isn't terrorizing the streets. Normal people wouldn't even notice. It's only because of fulltime agitators who have nothing to do but to stalk and harrass agents 24/7 that all of this is happening.

Celestial-body-NOS Social Dominance Orientation is the root of all kinds of evil. Blueberry 11hr ago

Jill would yell "shame," and this has caught on enough that it could be audible on some news reports.

Are they ringing bells?

daguerrean Blueberry 11hr ago

This is a very interesting post as an insight into the protest attending mindset. It is very strange to me, he seems continually befuddled by the extremes of hostility ("To me the yelling and taunting at police was misplaced aggression, and counter productive but it was their town, not mine"/"Somehow capitalism and the general economy have been implicated, although I cannot figure how") but nonetheless attends the protests regardless despite it being not his town. He seems to regard the protesting as mostly a harmless social activity that he groups together with going to record stores and restaurants. I get the sense his wife is basically dragging him to this ("I am not as brave as my wife, who acts from a strain of moral clarity that can sometimes be daunting") and he is playing the role of an agreeable husband that regards this like his wife dragging him to a museum or board game night, so he is happy to go there and shout obscenities for a few hours in between other tourist activities. I know it sounds cliche, but there is just such beta energy radiating off the entire post.

Quantumfreakonomics daguerrean 10hr ago

I had to do a double take. Wait, you're at the protests? As if that follows immediately and naturally from being in Minneapolis?

2D3D Quantumfreakonomics 7hr ago

Look I participated in Occupy Wall Streets Zucotti Park protest because I wanted tacos and there was a hot chick smoking a tea cigarette there. If you've got nothing better to do and you know the fuzz aren't going to crack your skulls a protest can be hella fun. Getting a critical population mass so it isn't just single issue weirdos CAN be an intoxicating environment to be around, like a rave with less open drug consumption and better music.

What is this place?

Why are you called The Motte?

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