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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   5391 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 20, 2026

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Last week anime culture war news was rather unwelcome here, so it is time for another.

The topic of last week xitter storm was anime.

Is anime weird? If so, what should parents do to make sure their kids never watch anime and become normal members of the crowd?

Fitting with the crowd as end in itself was always seen as moral duty in small c conservative tradition, nothing unusual with it.

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. His parents called him Eustace Clarence and masters called him Scrubb. I can't tell you how his friends spoke to him, for he had none. He didn't call his Father and Mother "Father" and "Mother", but Harold and Alberta. They were very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegetarians, non- smokers and teetotallers and wore a special kind of underclothes. In their house there was very little furniture and very few clothes on the beds and the windows were always open.

It is clear who the bad people are and why they are bad.

Nevertheless, massive arguments for and against torn xitter asunder and joined with even bigger arguments whether normie existence in 2020's North America is really something you should strive for or whether much better, happier, nobler and more fulfilling life can be found elsewhere.

If you examine all parts of normie life, from such basics as school, regular employnment, transportation or house building and find this is worthwhile prize, and then find out that your kid is not normie, you should indeed tell them:

"For your whole life, you will live as undercover agent in enemy territory. As Otto von Stierlitz had to pass as Nazi, you must learn how to pass as normie."

(using Eastern archetype here, in Western culture heroes are men of action facing adversity directly and challenging enemy in honorable combat, not sus characters skulking in shadows)

But parents are usually extremely bad judges what is "weird" and what isn't. They remember what was normal and what wasn't in high school in early 1980's, and are unable to comprehend that times are changing. And this is the problem barely noticed, the problem that makes this whole discourse waste of time.

On the flip side, I show my kids the original Pokemon cartoons. They teach the values of hard work, caring for those under you while still maintaining a strict hierarchy, respect, and other values which are harder to find in modern day TV Programming but are essential for a child. Trainers are in charge, Pokemon have to listen to them, so eat your veggies. Don't try to trouble the parental norm. Fighting authority is not a virtue. Things can be hard, do your best and you'll get better.

Trainers are in charge, Pokemon have to listen to them

Do your children identity more with the mostly non-sapient Pokemon rather than the human trainers?

Raising a generation of subs.

Younger kids identify with Pokemon more, weirdly enough. The oldest plays a trainer, the younger three like being Pokemon.

But also it's more just the concept of natural hierarchy existing and being good. I find most recent kids shows avoid this topic entirely or portray natural hierarchy as bad.

But also it's more just the concept of natural hierarchy existing and being good. I find most recent kids shows avoid this topic entirely or portray natural hierarchy as bad.

It's an interesting question. On one hand kids really should listen to their parents. On the other hand a pokemon can never become a trainer and I think it's important for kids to realize, at least on some level depending on their age, that they are not going to be kids forever and the role of their parents is to prepare them for shouldering the responsibilities of a full member of society. I am reminded of Johnson's absurd defense of the British class system:

Mr. Dempster having endeavoured to maintain that intrinsick merit ought to make the only distinction amongst mankind. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, mankind have found that this cannot be. How shall we determine the proportion of intrinsick merit? Were that to be the only distinction amongst mankind, we should soon quarrel about the degrees of it. Were all distinctions abolished, the strongest would not long acquiesce, but would endeavour to obtain a superiority by their bodily strength. But, Sir, as subordination is very necessary for society, and contensions for superiority very dangerous, mankind, that is to say, all civilized nations, have settled it upon a plain invariable principle. A man is born to hereditary rank; or his being appointed to certain offices, gives him a certain rank. Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure[1307].'

It goes beyond the Pokemon/trainer dynamic - there are gym leaders and the whole thing leads up to massive arena tournaments with winners. But I see your point.

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