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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   5280 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026

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If this goes on longer, the environment lobby should be really happy. There should be quite a significant drop in fossil fuel use globally

Unless China uses a few percent more coal.

Many have already pointed out that the biggest beneficiary of the war so far is Russia where both oil prices are seeing higher prices AND that their sanctions are dropped. At first glance, this should be bad news for Ukraine.

Definitely good for Russia, but I don't think cash is that big a bottleneck for Russia, so only mildly bad news for Ukraine.

Iranian oil also got its sanctions lifted.

Yes. Iranian oil is a double-edged sword; exporting it helps Iran, but also keeps oil prices and supply worries within reason. Also if Iran's oil is cut off, they can retailiae by throwing whatever is remaining at Gulf oil.

But maybe this is exactly what the American people want. Elections will certainly be spicy this midterm year.

For Trump to have this improve GOP chances, he needs to win outright -- new regime in Iran, doesn't matter how much they such as long as they'll play ball with the US and "Death to America" is off the playlist. I give this maybe a 5% chance; there just doesn't seem to be anyone in Iran capable of creating such a regime.

Five weeks ago, a ground war with Iran is unthinkable by the American people. Since then, that opinion has clearly changed.

Has it? Many of the earlier polls excluded special operations troops.

I think America will try to take one or a few islands.

Or possibly all of them.

The Venezuela op was a masterclass. What conditions would allow Trump to declare victory? Would a victory Trump can declare be a good thing for America long term?

The big win would be regime change. No mullahs, no IRGC, no "Death to America". Doesn't matter to the US if it's a military dictatorship, a democracy (LOL) or a restoration of the monarchy (double LOL), as long as they play ball.

Lacking that, the existing regime playing ball. Stop attacking Hormuz, stop supplying the Houthis (Hezbollah and Hamas matter to Israel but not the US), hand over the enriched uranium and allow US inspections.

No mullahs, no IRGC, no "Death to America".

A minor aside, I often wonder to what extent we should idiomatically translate "Death to X" as "Fuck X" instead. In the same way that an American saying "Fuck Iran" should be translated to a Persian as "Death to Iran" and not "I would like to have intercourse with Iran."

I'm not going to buy the theory that we've been mistranslating a harmless idiom until someone shows me a stadium of Iranians chanting "death to [rival team]" during a friendly sporting event. If it is indeed a harmless expression, there should be plenty of examples of Iranians using it in other contexts, but I've never heard it directed at anything other than the US and Israel.

but I've never heard it directed at anything other than the US and Israel.

Have you ever interacted with a Persian?

From Grok:

the Persian phrase “marg bar” (مرگ بر, literally “death to”) is famously used in political chants like “marg bar Amrika” (Death to America) or “marg bar Isra’il” (Death to Israel), but it (and related death idioms) also pops up in more casual, everyday Iranian speech for frustration with mundane things.

It’s not always a literal call for death—it’s often idiomatic, like an exaggerated “damn [this thing]” or “down with [annoyance]” for stuff you can’t control or that irritates you in daily life. Travel writer Rick Steves captured this perfectly during a trip to Tehran: his taxi driver, stuck in horrible traffic, exclaimed “Death to traffic!” (in English) and explained that Iranians say this about uncontrollable frustrations, comparing it to casually saying “damn those teenagers.” Steves noted the driver wasn’t advocating violence against drivers—just venting about gridlock the same way people rant about everyday hassles.

Another clear non-political (or at least prosaic) example is “marg bar sibzamini” (“Death to potatoes!”). During the 2009 Iranian presidential election campaign, opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad chanted this at rallies in places like Yasouj and Isfahan. It mocked his government’s potato distribution (seen as a gimmicky handout or vote-buying tactic amid economic issues). Protesters turned a staple food into a slogan of everyday dissatisfaction: “We don’t want potato government!” It was humorous and pointed at a mundane economic gripe rather than grand ideology.

Broader Persian “death”-related expressions are super common in quotidian contexts for exaggeration, annoyance, exhaustion, or minor irritations (not protests). These show how death metaphors are woven into casual talk:

Che margeshe? (“What’s his death?”) → Used for objects or people acting up, like “In mâshin che margeshe?” (“What’s wrong with this car?”) when it won’t start.63

Mordim tâ… (“We died until…”) → For everyday ordeals, e.g., “Mordim tâ residim!” (“We died until we arrived!”) in bad traffic or after a long, draining commute.63 Marg! (“Death!”) or Boro bemir! (“Go die!”) → Casual “Shut up!” or “Get lost!” among friends, depending on tone (joking vs. serious).63

Khabare margesh! (“The news of his/her death!”) → Muttered under your breath about something/someone annoying, like a frustrating politician or a bad driver.63 These aren’t rare or invented—they’re documented by Iranian-Americans, travelers, linguists, and Iranians themselves as normal ways to blow off steam about traffic, broken stuff, exhaustion, or petty annoyances. The political versions get all the media attention because they’re chanted at rallies, but the structure lends itself to everyday venting in Iran, much like how English speakers might say “screw this traffic” or “kill me now” hyperbolically. Context and tone make it clear it’s rarely literal.

Either way, I don't think it's about translating it as harmless, just making the Iranians seem less poetic and serious. It's a problem with Persian translations in general, hence the Twitter memes about how every middlebrow Iranian bureaucrat had a PhD thesis on Quranic Hegelian dialectics in assymetric deterrence compared to Trump's boomer caps lock and Hegseths group chat edginess. If we translated more idiomatically, we'd see them as losers, the way most Persians do.

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