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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 7, 2026

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She's a little horse-faced, but if it's a competition on looks between her and Hanania, she beats him by a country mile every time. Even personality-wise, I'm not hugely impressed by her but she has managed to avoid the kind of self-back-patting smuggery Hanania oozes.

Hanania isn't just "not conventionally attractive in Aryan blond fashion", he has the kind of features that raise my instinctive hackles about "having children by him would result in physical and/or mental developmental problems". Probably unfair, since it's mentioned he has a wife and kids (but I've never seen anything about them), but that's how his facial features, skull shape, etc. ring my bells.

Or worse, looking like the future star of a true crime documentary: "for years, no-one suspected the quiet loner... until the shocking truth was revealed by his one slip-up in a career of depravity!"

I’ll agree that Hanania looks weird, but it’s not that bad.

I'm flaunting on open display all my prejudices here, but mostly it's the crazy eyes (or expression that can be read as same). Deep-set, strangely dark and luxuriant eye lashes, and light coloured eyes together.

Even in a good photo of him, I still get vibes of "trying too hard to look normal" and sorry, yet more "future serial killer documentary" vibes.

This is all subjective! My reactions are not (necessarily) those of the normal female! But I get a loud siren noise and flashing lights in my head when looking at photos of him, like this.

I admit, if his writing hadn't put me off so much, I'd be more forgiving of his face. But both together are too much.

Hanania has "sketchy merchant who betrays the protagonist because the villain offered him a child bride" physiognomy. I am surprised and kind of appalled to learn that he is married with children. I assume a mail order or green card are involved.

sketchy merchant who betrays the protagonist because the villain offered him a child bride

everyone else on the entire internet just abbreviates this to "jew".

Or paternity fraud.

Yeah he has a deeply unsettling appearance.

It is terrible of me, because I am usually very much on the side of "don't judge people mainly by appearance, don't be mean about person's face/hair/weight because often they can't help it", but dang it, sometimes such signals are evolution's warning flags.

If I'm going to try and be maximally charitable to Hanania, it could be that his looks got him teased/bullied as a kid and teenager and young man, and he fell back on "well fudge you jerks, I'm smart, smarter than you, and I'll be successful while you're all still in the gutter!" and that's what is behind his braggadocio and trolling. But I dislike the attitude on display in his writing enough that it makes me go "No, to hell with it, he's a jerk and I don't care if it's mean, his face is the index of his soul".

To which people then look back on him and say to themselves “no wonder this guy was bullied in school.” Lol.