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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

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But apparently less effective.

Not necessarily. Going full Big Brother could trigger a rebellion, causing the effectiveness to go to zero.

I feel like a percussive maintenance approach to fixing a defect-defect is similar to a pray and spray approach to shooting

All of politics is. Contrary to it's pretense, sociology is not a science, so there's a lot of going with your gut when you're governing.

I always find it funny, ironic, and depressing how people on the right are not opposed to technocratic solutions, they just don't want to be a on the receiving end of them. Everyone wants to wear the boot.

Where's the humor / irony / gloom? Not everyone on the right is a libertarian. In fact, it's only a small minority that is. Though I object to being called a technocrat.

All of politics is. Contrary to it's pretense, sociology is not a science, so there's a lot of going with your gut when you're governing.

No but economics is and is a far better tool than your gut when dealing with large markets and the mass decisions of human behavior. Mass human interactions are all fundamentally markets. I think assuming sociology = politics is the exact urge that technocrats have...

Though I object to being called a technocrat.

What else do you call someone who attempts to solve human problems like its an experiment to be managed or its factorio/paradox/rimworld esque. I think this impulse is exactly the technocratic one.

Not everyone on the right is a libertarian. In fact, it's only a small minority that is.

Obviously not, but plenty on the right object to being forced into compliance as though they were playthings of the technocratic mind. A principle they do not reciprocate in their own wild fantasies of power. So for them the question is not "Is the boot good" but "How do I get to wear the boot". As such when they morally grandstand about the abuse of the progressive wokes they aren't standing on principle but against the radical belief that in a democracy you will need to share the boot. There is dark humor in the idea that adults are fundamentally just kindergarteners with power who never learned to share.

No but economics is and is a far better tool than your gut when dealing with large markets and the mass decisions of human behavior.

I don't have a particularly high opinion on economics either. It managed to distill a few laws of "never go full-retard" but not much beyond that. I'm also not sure how you reconcile economics fan-boyism with your criticism of technocracy.

What else do you call someone who attempts to solve human problems like its an experiment to be managed or its factorio/paradox/rimworld esque. I think this impulse is exactly the technocratic one.

I don't want to do that though. Factorio / Rimworld / Paradox are deterministic systems that autists can optimize with statistics and excel sheets. I just want to bonk people on the head.

Obviously not, but plenty on the right object to being forced into compliance as though they were playthings of the technocratic mind.

Well, I'm also fine with admitting I'm not exactly like the median rightwinger. I think a lot of the people complaining about being "forced into compliance" are naive and/or haven't thought their position through very much. Every society forces people into compliance one way or the other, and most of the debates are actually about what should we be forcing people to comply with, and in what manner. We're also expanding a lot of effort into pretending this isn't what the debate is about, but the only people I ever met who don't want to force compliance are literal ancaps, so unless you're one of them, you have no ground for criticism here.

Technocracy is a separate issue where you assume there's some sort of domain of expertise that will grant you legitimacy and enable you to make optimal decisions. I think that's folly, and it's prone to spawning a lot of pathologies in society.