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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026

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Iran - US - Israel War Flareup

“Israel says it has launched attack on Iran, as explosions reported in Tehran”

“The US has begun Major Combat Operations in Iran” - Donald Trump (headline flashed up just now on my phone, no link yet)

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More to follow but thought I’d post quickly for any commenting.

Mods, can we get a mega thread on this? Else I fear it will be like the Charlie Kirk thing, or just devolve into dozens of bare links which you will have to keep moderating.

The Charlie Kirk assassination was rather obvious culture war fuel. A Middle Eastern shooting war, while obviously a rather serious development, does not necessarily prove to be culture war fuel. What exactly would the culture-warring be about anyway?

The one thing I can surely say is that in my native Hungary the local Blue Tribe, which supports the main opposition party almost without exception and is otherwise heavily influenced by the US Blue Tribe in every other thing, is, due to the historic legacy of WW2 and the Cold War, largely supporting not only Zionism as such but also the project of Greater Israel (i.e. Israeli control over the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Southern Lebanon, if not more), and in this they are not a bit different from the government that they otherwise hate with a burning passion. And for this reason I rather doubt this will be fodder for any local culture-warring.

due to the historic legacy of WW2 and the Cold War, largely supporting not only Zionism as such but also the project of Greater Israel

Can you explain further? Do you mean to say that the Hungarian Blue Tribe (Tribe of Kék?) supports Israel due to civilization guilt about the Holocaust? If so, where does the legacy of the Cold War come into it

Culture war aspects:

  • 10 minutes before Trump announced we started military operations in Iran, there were already organizations putting out calls to protest. Americans protesting against the attacks while the Iranian people are celebrating the death of Khamenei. Several online people saying they are hoping that the US military gets annihilated to teach us a lesson.

  • US Congresswoman Tlaib said, "This is who they are", where "they" refers to Americans, while the normal pronoun to use would be "we." She doesn't think of herself as American despite serving as a US Congresswoman.

  • Early polling showed that the war was massively unpopular with independents and Democrats, but the vibe online seems to be changing as it looks like we took out 40 of their top leaders while taking 0 casualties. How much can we trust initial polling data? What does this mean for Trump's approval going forward?

  • Iran lashed out at neutral countries, attacking hotels, shopping malls, and apartment complexes in UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc.

  • School in Iran was hit, many deaths. Arguing over whether it was Israel/Americans or Iranians misfiring.