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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   13459 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026

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The problem is that the movement here has become utterly unmoored from reality. In the case of the UK, the left broadly got what it wanted.

Well, Phoebe O’Brien certainly does not feel she is living in paradise. Neither would any representative of historical "left" before about Clinton times.

There are sweeping laws against almost every leftist bugbear, there are gender equality rulings that means female cashiers have to be paid the same as male warehouse workers

And neither are paid very much.

taxes are incredibly punitive at the top end

And are they spent on anything that benefits Phoebe in any way?

the UK has worse pay compression than the Soviet Union (!!!).

And like in Soviet Union, it does not matter, because the real elite benefits are not things you can buy in shop with pieces of paper or plastic.

Yea, Phoebe O’Brien is angry. And you admit that there are many good reasons to be angry in today's UK and today's world.

Yea, Phoebe's anger is misdirected. Yea, Phoebe is ignorant, badly miseducated and misinformed. Now, instead of laughing at her hair, what would you tell to her? Who is her real enemy, who should she be angry at? If it's not the men, the billionaire class, Keir Starmer, Donald Trump and Israel, who is it?

Or would you tell her to chill, stop GAF about anything and be content with her lot of life?

"Dear Phoebe, you live in the best possible world. Stop crying, stop complaining, be thankful you were not born as slave in ancient Egypt and enjoy your life. Do not forget to thank every day Israel and heroes working in quantitative finance who made it all possible."

Do not forget to thank every day Israel and heroes working in quantitative finance who made it all possible.

I wouldn't say we are heroes but quant finance isn't completely zero sum. It may be almost zero sum on the margins but Phoebe and Co. would notice very quickly if we all disappeared in a poof of smoke.

And are they spent on anything that benefits Phoebe in any way?

Yes. Aside from free healthcare, thé heavy subsidization of women being girlbosses enables her lifestyle in a way it doesn’t for men.

I’d tell her what I think is the truth or at least close to the truth regarding these issues. That her hairstyle is laughable and should be changed (if she looks like a feminist activist who repels normal people with her appearance in itself). Her anger in itself isn’t bad or unwarranted. Some of her problems are caused indirectly by Trump’s and Israel’s policies to a small degree. Other problems of hers are caused by Starmer to a much larger degree. Yet other ones are caused by billionaires. Some of the men she is attracted to are likely to treat her badly. There also men who would do the opposite, but many of them are invisible or unattractive in her eyes. And I wouldn’t bring up Ancient Egypt as it’d just be triggering.

I can understand how UK inflation might be exacerbated by Trump's tariffs from last year. I can understand how part of the reason she feels miserable and angry a lot of the time is because of social media algorithms which were designed by the companies who built them, which you could indirectly say is "problems caused by billionaires". But I'm at a loss as to how the problems of anyone living in the UK can be laid at the feet of policies enacted by Israel.

Yet other ones are caused by billionaires.

Which of her problems are caused by which billionares?

And are they spent on anything that benefits Phoebe in any way?

Yes. Her education is subsidised, a lot of the jobs she could get are probably a result of legislation passed by the state and subsidised by it, in the unlikely event she has kids that is heavily subsidised, as is her aged pension, her healthcare, of which she will consume a lot more statistically over a lifetime than if she were a male, is subsidised. Taxes overwhelmingly go to the old, women and the infirm. The purpose of the system is partly to take money away from people she hates to people like her.

Who is her real enemy, who should she be angry at?

The real enemy is, well, herself. Pre-2008 the UK had some of the highest growth rates in the developed world. A big reason it's gone to shit and is on managed decline is that its slowly changing into a weird social market economy with pay rates set by fiat at the behest of people that think like her.

Or would you tell her to chill, stop GAF about anything and be content with her lot of life?

I would ask her to think about what exactly makes modern industrial life possible in the first place and how precarious it is.

What does she really want? I am not going to try and psychoanalyse the people that think differently to me as that would just lead to a lot of unfair characterisations. What I can say is that what she wants, would, historically and practically speaking, generally lead to very bad things if fully implemented, if you believe empirical observations about econometrics and history.

What she wants is Marxism, and the history of attempts at implementing Marxism leaves quite a few industrialized, modern societies. They’re just poor and shitty.

And neither are paid very much.

A warehouse worker makes £26k a year.

And are they spent on anything that benefits Phoebe in any way?

Yes, as outlined in the OP. Feel free to consult the most recent budget if you don't believe it.

who should she be angry at?

The people who design social media algorithms, chiefly.

A warehouse worker makes £26k a year.

A quick search seems to show that's not much different than a US warehouse worker. Or cashier; they're overlapping ranges. The UK may be a better place relatively for warehouse workers compared to brain surgeons, but you're likely at least as well off being a warehouse worker in the US.

There are arguments for the UK warehouse worker doing better. British rents are cheaper in dollar terms. Grocery costs are lower. Low income neighborhoods in Britain have much lower crime rates than their American equivalents.

But even if we assume their QoL is merely the same, that’s incredible - America is twice as rich as Britain! British professionals make less than half of their American peers.

Yes. So I don't buy @Eetan's claim that warehouse workers and cashiers in the UK are both getting shafted.

They may well be, but not by their salary. Rather, by the general economic malaise that's brought about by the policies meant to keep their salaries relatively high.

A warehouse worker makes £26k a year.

Just for context, due to inane minimum wage laws and similar these sort of positions are some of the highest paid in the world in the UK, normalized to median wage and price levels. It's not a great place to be a nuclear engineer or surgeon but it is a pretty good deal if you are a cashier, store clerk, warehouse worker, etc.

Which is, funnily enough, broadly what people like Phoebe O'Brien want. Unfortunately it does have some pretty severe second-order effects.

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