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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026

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That's not a direct quote from me. You cut it to pieces and out of context, again! Before I engage with you quoting me again I want you to clarify this. You quoted me and said it looked like I was denying that Iran funds Hezbollah. But in that quote, you cut off the next part of the sentence that said that I was sure that they were funding Hezbollah.

That's a lie. Here's your full post in all its glory:

.The Iranians chant death to America and the ayatollah has publicly gone to great length to explain that the slogan is not a direct wish for harm against American citizens, but a screed against their government and its belligerence and hostility towards Iran.

Which fits rather snugly as a contrast with the more Orwellian terminology of the west, like 'regime change', 'liberation' or other such verbiage. Which then translates to aerial bombing campaign with large amounts of civilians killed in practice.

Outside of drastic otherization and dehumanization, saying that Iran is exporting terrorism or spouting threatening rhetoric is functionally meaningless. In context their actions are a rational consequence to US and Israeli strategy in the region. Be that state sponsored invasions of Iran, the funding of terrorists in the region or other destabilizing actions such with Syria, Iraq and Libya.

And it's hard to pretend that Iran is hogging all the religious lunatics when Americans have decades of failed Zionist adjacent policies laying in their backyard. Along with theologians like Mike Huckabee, Pete Hegseth or Paula White.

There is NOTHING in here about Iran funding Hezbollah.

But your lie is even worse than that, because next you evaded my question and then misrepresented it.

Here's what I asked:

Do you deny that Iran has been directing and supporting Hezbollah?

In response, you admitted that Iran has been funding Hezbollah but ignored the question of whether Iran has been directing Hezbollah, and then tried to change the subject:

Listen, I'm not on trial here 'denying' things and you're not an authority on facts and knowledge. I'm sure Iran funds them along with a host of other groups. Why is funding proxies invalid when Iran does it, but not America or Israel?

You quoted me and said it looked like I was denying that Iran funds Hezbollah

Nonsense. I simply asked you a reasonable question, one which you evaded. Actually you evaded twice.

Once by dodging the question of whether Iran directs Hezbollah, and again by dodging the issue of whether Iran exports terrorism.

And it's obvious why you are being so evasive. Because you know perfectly well that (1) Iran does in fact export terrorism; and (2) the United States and Israel do not. To get around this problem, you are trying to draw a false equivalence. There must have been some time when either the United States or Israel or both gave support to some group which at some point engaged in some kind of terrorist act. So by (1) ignoring the fact that Iran directs Hezbollah; and (2) ignoring the fact that Iran specifically intends to export terrorism, you can pretend it's the same thing.

That's obviously the case, demonstrated by the difference in how Iran acts towards America and Iran.

No, it's not obviously the case. What's far more likely is that Iran does not bully the US as it does with Israel because (1) America is much further away; (2) America does not have the same kind of hostile population on its borders which can be organized and recruited like Hezbollah; and (3) America is by far the world's most powerful country and bullies tend to choose weaker targets.

In any event, I do not engage with people who evade or misrepresent my position, something you have done both here and in another exchange. Accordingly, this discussion is concluded. Feel free to have the last word -- I will not be reading or responding.

Here is the paragraph of the post you replied to when you asked me about Hezbollah and Iran:

Listen, I'm not on trial here 'denying' things and you're not an authority on facts and knowledge. I'm sure Iran funds them along with a host of other groups. Why is funding proxies invalid when Iran does it, but not America or Israel?

So you're just not saying the correct thing here when falsely accusing me of lying.

Iran funds Hezbollah, even directs them when they need something done. They probably have more than a few Iranian soldiers in there was well. My entire argumentation assumed this was the case so I'm surprised.

But regardless of that, I repeatedly asked for clarification on this. If you felt that something relevant was lost in translation you could have clarified it. But you did not do that.

(1) Iran does in fact export terrorism; and (2) the United States and Israel do not.

The US and Israel have exported terrorism continuously in the middle east. Israel does it directly via their own military actions against civilians, along with the US. But they have also funded armed forces on the ground directly. Most recently by hoping to arm Kurds to do the fighting for them in Iran. But most notably through funding Wahhabist ideology. Which is directly tied to some of the worst terror attacks outside the middle east.

What's far more likely is that Iran does not bully the US as it does with Israel because (1) America is much further away; (2) America does not have the same kind of hostile population on its borders which can be organized and recruited like Hezbollah; and (3) America is by far the world's most powerful country and bullies tend to choose weaker targets.

I'm sure that factors in a lot. How this supposedly demonstrates that my point that 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to America' don't mean the same thing to Iran eludes me.