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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 9, 2026

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I'm confused. How many people in the US would be actually surprised/outraged if we got into a hot war and someone bombed a military base, which also had a school on it? We'd be upset about getting bombed at all, but I don't think the fact that a school on the base also got hit would add to the upsetness. It seems like a legit strike would also harm people at the school.

Schools on military bases are probably really convenient and the risk is low right now because we are unlikely to have people attacking us on the continental US. But it is a risk that they probably had to assess and accept. If an attack on US soil seemed more likely, the schools would probably be moved.

How many people in the US would be actually surprised/outraged if we got into a hot war and someone bombed a military base, which also had a school on it?

You don't have to get into a hot war to figure that one out. Just look at Ukraine-Russia war, Ukraine blew up a bridge using an unsuspecting civilian trucker to carry the bomb, killing a random family in the process and public consensus on this (in the west) was 'justified'. Now imagine what type of reaction this would generate if Iran did this to US or any 'bad guys' did it to 'good guys'. You wouldn't stop hearing about it until it's imprinted in your brain.

I'm confused. How many people in the US would be actually surprised/outraged if we got into a hot war and someone bombed a military base, which also had a school on it?

Plenty of people. It's just that there's very little overlap with the set of people who are upset about the bombing of this school.

I'm confused. How many people in the US would be actually surprised/outraged if we got into a hot war and someone bombed a military base, which also had a school on it? We'd be upset about getting bombed at all, but I don't think the fact that a school on the base also got hit would add to the upsetness. It seems like a legit strike would also harm people at the school.

Looking at what's been happening in Ukraine, Iran and so on, I think that you'd (plural) be incandescent. It would immediately form the basis of huge volumes of war propaganda against the baby-killers for domestic consumption. Diplomats from the UK would be dragged in front of a mike and ask why they aren't doing more to stop innocent American children being slaughtered. Meanwhile any unfortunate civilian casualties abroad would be targeting accidents resulting from the enemy's perfidy in leaving children next to their bases, unlike the US which is (..now) doing everything possible to get them out of harm's way.

That just seems to be how war is.