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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 10, 2026

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We got the marketplace of ideas back.

Parts of it. Yes. A non insignificant amount of that is just Elon Musk. The next Dem president can easily ruin him. Cancel all the spaceX contracts, run some bogus IRS operation, use the latent DOJ lackeys just waiting to file 100 discrimination suits against him, gin up some actual criminal charges if they are really dedicated. We dont have HBD on NFL broadcasts, BLM certainly WAS.

If you want something less abstract, there is now a general consensus among serious people that demographic performance differentials (whether or not they are genetic or environmental in origin) are real. The idea that all measured gaps are artifacts of testing bias or an unjust economic system did not withstand public scrutiny.

I doubt this assertion very much. Stating what you stated here will get you denied tenure at most universities. Chris Rufo is just one man running one place. And universities are just the peak of the iceberg. The public k-12 is still infested with woke and woke adjacent instructors giving woke instructions.

Edit.

IMO we have won a few battles, but the fundamentals look weak to actually win against woke. It is yet to be seen if we are more akin to the Confederacy after Bull Run or the 13 colonies after the surprise attack in Trenton. But either way the other side has far more deploy-able resources right now, and is just temporarily embarrassed from a recent set of high profile losses. But those relatively minor losses need to be followed by dismantling the ability to launch attacks and building of redoubts against the obviously coming future sallies.

The next Dem president can easily ruin him.

I will note that Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. already did declare Fair Game on Elon Musk and Musk was the one who wound up getting Biden fired.

I'm not saying that there aren't ways that USG could dispose of Elon Musk, but it wouldn't be trivial or cost-free.

IMO we have won a few battles, but the fundamentals look weak to actually win against woke.

The fundamental of "does not live in a nuclear target" is a fairly-important one with the Doomsday Clock where it is. Do note that SJ would likely not be able to concede ground quickly enough in the aftermath of that to prevent the Serious Business tools from being handed over to its enemies - in the USA, Constitutional amendment and impeachment.

...is your argument that in the aftermath of a nuclear exchange, SJ would be in trouble because non-SJ would have access to Constitutional Amendments and impeachment?