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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026

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The trouble with this is that people tend to be stupid and stubborn, so "surely people won't be stupid and stubborn enough to bring massive consequences down on themselves for no benefit" just isn't going to be universally true

This is an interesting point; not sure I agree with it.

A while back I read a post elsewhere (somewhere with dramatically lower average post quality) suggesting laying razor wire along the border. Another poster decried that proposal as evil. Razor wire inflicts terrible injuries; does merely attempting to cross the border justify such horrific punishment? ... But razor wire isn't invisible. I don't even think it's plausible that anyone, however stupid or poorly educated, could fail to understand what running into razor wire would do, given a chance to inspect it. (Animals, on the other hand, might be that stupid; not saying this is a good idea.) Realistically, how many potential migrants would actually injure themselves on the wire? A few, maybe, doing a poor job cutting their way through. Approximately zero just charging into it. What if instead it were just a wall? Would that proposal be similarly evil due to the head trauma potential migrants might experience if they chose to ram into it head first? Surely even that poster wouldn't have the temerity to suggest as much.

But at the same time, I do agree people can be stupid and stubborn, especially if only a small number need to for disastrous consequences to follow. I think the relevant distinction might be whether there's another person in the loop? Charging a machine gun nest might feel like a better bet than charging razor wire, because the gunner might decide not to fire for any number of reasons but the wire can't decide anything. And social reasoning is comparatively, so even if the gunner is in fact very likely to fire, maybe it's more likely for stubborn/stupid people to make the wrong call?