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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   8184 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 24, 2026

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Poilievre, has primarily attacked Carney for… not being antagonistic enough towards the US, particularly in regard to said tariffs. Obviously Poilievre is falling into a classic bear trap tendency of conservatives: fearing the social isolation of a strongly differentiated viewpoint and therefore gradually moulding himself into “Liberals but sensible”.

Alternative thesis: Poilievre lost a slam dunk election because he was seen as the bootlicker candidate at a time when the US under Trump was trying to bully and humiliate Canada, and is now trying to correct for that perception. He has - almost certainly correctly - identified that he needs to be seen as willing to stand up for Canada harder than Carney is if he wants to have any patriotic credentials whatsoever.

With Canada facing a crisis of existence in its ethnic makeup and self-belief, with its only guiding light being burning resentment toward its big brother, what can save the nation? What can transform a postmodern, puritanical nowhere place into a beloved homeland to be fought for, to be boasted about, to be made great again?

Alternative thesis: Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?

There's a very real problem right-wingers have modeling the beliefs of others, where if they don't subscribe to very specific elements of right-wing mythology and engage in performative flag-fondling then they must hate their country. It is not mystifying why Canadian resentment of the United States has abruptly skyrocketed, and the fact that it has does not reveal some prior hollowness in Canadian national identity.

There's a very real problem right-wingers have modeling the beliefs of others, where if they don't subscribe to very specific elements of right-wing mythology and engage in performative flag-fondling then they must hate their country. It is not mystifying why Canadian resentment of the United States has abruptly skyrocketed, and the fact that it has does not reveal some prior hollowness in Canadian national identity.

I wouldn't even say this extends to right-wingers in general, which despite me not counting myself among them I think on the whole tend to a decent job of modeling others beliefs, better than their left-wing counterparts. This is a specific feature of the MAGA camp, which has ensconced itself in its own bubble of self-contradictory beliefs.

You don't need to look any further than this comment thread to see variations of Canada isn't a real country, they're ungrateful vassals, they wouldn't exist without us and frankly shouldn't - and why do they hate us when we're so nice to them?

It's more like, why are we caring about fraternity with someone who defines themselves as "not us" and maple leafs? Since they dropped the union jack they don't have much left but anti-US sentiment and Quebec.

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