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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

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Furthermore they should teach that other countries have wide spread use of public transit and even wealthy people use it. Meanwhile in the US Rosa Parks made public transit a last resort option for those too poor to care about being stabbed.

Meanwhile in the US Rosa Parks made public transit a last resort option for those too poor to care about being stabbed.

Do you believe that the thing keeping people from being stabbed on public transit was that blacks had to give up their seats to whites when the bus was full?

It's kinda connected. The particular regulation isn't, but the practice that ultimately developed that having and enforcing a policy of removing disruptive people who are minority members would result in painful legal action whereas just letting shit happen wouldn't, was.

The radical policy of putting criminals in jail without segregating the bus would have permitted Montgomery to have avoided the bus boycott entirely.

Sure, but they were segregationists; it wasn't about crime.

Sure, but they were segregationists; it wasn't about crime.

Come to think of it, what was the point of separating blacks and whites? It's easy to think of Southern segregationists as moustache-twirling villains who wanted little beyond stigmatizing blacks and keeping them down, but perhaps there was an actual practical reason for this type of segregation?

The point of separating them was to express disdain for them. Libertarians here tend to read practical motivations into anything. No, if there were such motivations, they weren't very central to the idea. People forced blacks to use segregated water fountains because they got utility from forcing blacks to use segregated water fountains.

This is an extension of the quokka idea, except instead of "it's hard to imagine someone would want to harm me, just because", it's "it's hard to imagine that someone would want harm black people, just because".

The point of separating them was to express disdain for them.

What's your evidence/argument for this? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just would like to understand your reasoning.

"it's hard to imagine that someone would want harm black people, just because".

Well this is based on my experience. Of course I never lived in the Jim Crow south, but I've witnessed a lot of discrimination against blacks -- all of it was what could be called "rational discrimination." An example of this kind of discrimination is the example of the Nigerian cabbie who tries to avoid picking up young black men late at night because he perceives a much greater chance of being robbed.

What's your evidence/argument for this? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just would like to understand your reasoning.

This is like software patents where an idea is so obvious that nobody bothers to write it down. Are you seriously saying you've never observed discrimination that is just fundamentally based on not liking another race?

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