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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 6, 2026

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But I guess I think claims of racialist spoils are overstated, too. Shit’s still politically toxic.

Which is why there's an entire industry to manufacture consent for it - the entire battle against "systemic racism" is a justification to provide racial spoils even when it doesn't make sense. It's why "white supremacy" never ends even as white hegemony is ending and there's always a new calumny - like the claim that black babies are more likely to die under/because of white doctors, which was then cited by KBJ in a SCOTUS judgment on affirmative action - to allow calls for more "justice"

That or deny it's happening. I suspect this is part of the reason affirmative action is both pervasive and polls very badly: the public dislikes it, and they don't know enough to know how much of a finger is on the scale (so they take claims like "it's a tie-breaker" seriously). As a result, they don't think it's necessary. Admins know better.