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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026

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So forcing the German Jews to adopt the name Israel or Sara on legal documents was not a violation of their rights?

It was. The state was compelling others to refer to them with a specific designation and suppressing all other ones.

If some racist jerk wants to call everyone he considers Black 'Nigger $lastname' instead of 'Mr. $lastname', or if a state mandates this, that is all just fine?

A state shouldn't compel anyone's speech, so no to the latter. To the former, it's not practical to stop someone from saying nigger and a state should not even try. I advise people against saying nigger in polite company due to the obvious social consequences, but people do have the right to say it.

Making driving a car an inalienable right would have large negative externalities.

It wouldn't be as inalienable as you think. It would just be like guns, which supposedly are a right but in practice function more like a privilege than driving is. I can imagine a world where you don't need a license but you still need to be old enough, follow safety laws, etc. and can be prohibited from operating a vehicle if necessary, just like how states have regulations on riding a bicycle but don't mandate licensing, registration, or insurance.

I can spend weeks without thinking about the existence of dickgirls at all, something which MAGA seems completely unable to achieve.

Should MAGA avoid reading sources like AP News, which routinely promotes the plights of trans people, so they don't have to think about them? I'm confused by this tendency to argue that trans people don't matter to your life and why are you even thinking about them in the first place, you're just obsessed -- and then in the next breath crow on about how trans people are oppressed and their suffering is so important that they are to be prioritized above the price of eggs. You can't have it both ways. If it's worth your time to make trans people the centerpiece of discussion, then it's worth my time to give my opinion on them.

Most people are not trans, nor do they frequently suffer from their tinder dates having unexpected genitals or losing to bearded people in athletic competitions.

A lot of people have children and are concerned (rightly or wrongly) about trans people grooming their kids. MAGA has issues but I don't think being anti-trans is one of them.