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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026

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But it echoes all the admiration Luigi Mangione was getting, and I think for the same reasons: he's the Hero taking on the Bad Evil Wicked Horrible Guys, of course mm-mm he's so dreamy and smart and the rest of it.

It's weird that this has happened twice, and it's doubly weird that Oracle's brother was the one doing it this time. I'm really not sure why it's a thing for some people on the left to talk about the physical attractiveness of their heroes like this -- I thought the left would be the ones saying that your values are more important than your appearance.

But also the pattern-noticer in me is considering that this has happened only in instances where white adult men have been the grand hero of the left. I can't recall George Floyd being praised for being a dreamboat. And bizarrely the American left types who might have venerated Thomas Matthew Crooks were convinced he was a Republican (?) false flag operation (?), and anyway I guess he radiated "loser teenage boy" energy rather than "big stronk warrior man" energy.

Actually, it's startling to me how little we know about Crooks, his motivations, and the failures of the Secret Service, but unfortunately there's no force that actually wants us to know more. Despite the historically-significant photo he got out of it, Trump seems incredibly embarrassed about his near-death experience and hasn't milked it the way he should have. He seems grateful for the Secret Service despite their failure. Given everything that's happened since, Crooks' assassination attempt is one of the most historically significant events of the past 20 years.

(?) EDIT: I did some research -- I guess Crooks had been searching various political figures in the months leading up to the shooting, it does seem like he was just kind of a loser who wanted to be historically significant by killing someone. I had merged this case with the Kirk assassination case in my head, that's a more clear instance of a shooter who grew up among Republicans becoming a convert to the left due to the internet and LGBT partners, and being radicalized into political violence. That many on the left were willfully ignorant of the fact that this was a guy who grew to share their values and acted on them in an extreme and violent manner is still wild to me. "LGBT liberal from a Republican family" is a stock character. Few people would say they "weren't really a leftie."

I thought the left would be the ones saying that your values are more important than your appearance.

If you (and the mods) will pardon Internet slang - ROFLMAO! That's only for the Persons of Hair Colour, don't you know? When it comes to your enemies, it is fair, correct, and accurate to say they're fat, ignorant, mentally retarded, criminals, but also useless, clumsy, incompetent, and every other bad quality, because you can tell they are bad people by how they look.

Human nature is ever-triumphant over principle, be that in religion, politics, or ordinary affairs.

And bizarrely the American left types who might have venerated Thomas Matthew Crooks were convinced he was a Republican (?) false flag operation (?), and anyway I guess he radiated "loser teenage boy" energy rather than "big stronk warrior man" energy.

History repeated itself with Kirk's assassin.