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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 14, 2026

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Love it or leave it, but woke.

This weekend, The University of Texas played The Ohio State University in Austin, TX. A screen shot went viral on Twitter showing a crowd of Indian students celebrating the victory.

"Heritage Americans", the dissident right, the Woke Reich, or whatever you want to call them went crazy, pointing out the massive demographic changes in Texas that are happening. This is true. Anyone who has been to Texas knows whites are a minority here in any medium sized and larger city. The changes have been stunning and within 30 years, it is unrecognizable.

Critics rightfully pointed out that they were pretty much just being racist. You talk about integration, and here are immigrants and children of immigrants celebrating a victory in football wearing cowboy hats. What is more American than that? You clearly just don't like Indian people.

An Indian politician said that this is what Texas is. If you don't like it, LEAVE! There is some truth to this. This is what Texas is now, but historically the South Asian population has been tiny. This is a very recent development. Is 20 years all it takes for Texas to become something new? If you are 30 and above, you probably grew up with almost no Indians. Now this is what Texas is and you have to leave if you don't like the changes?

This reminds me of the UK. Pre-Windrush, the UK was 99.9% white. As recently as 1991, it was 95% white. Now though, if you complain, you are going against British values. For thousands of years, the UK was essentially 100% white. Within a few generations, it is a multi-cultural country and if you don't like that, LEAVE! We are not a white society, and actually never were. I could go on and on, but with the exception of Reform, that is the general consensus now.

Back to Texas. It's crazy how quickly this can happen. Mass migration can happen and within one generation, this is seen as the new default and any complaints about this are seen as against the new values. Of course, the biggest gatekeepers of this isn't the left. They really have no control over their outgroup other than canceling people and social pressure, but if you don't care what they think, what can they really do? The center-right has also rushed to condemn people criticizing the massive demographic replacement in Texas. People like Dan Crenshaw rushed to condemn the racism and call out this anti-Indian racism and essentially sided with the left, who hates them. They have essentially said the same thing as the left and that these aren't Texas values to be racist. So basically, love it or leave it, but woke. If you don't like the new Texas, leave.

But where will they go? You basically have to live in a state like Texas for access to the best jobs. schools, dating, etc. It's insane to me how fast we can accept something new that is unprecedented as the new normal without considering the consequences. Only weirdos and disagreeable people point this out, and by the time people start to see the consequences, it will be too late (assuming there are negative consequences, which should be obvious is my POV).

You basically have to live in a state like Texas for access to the best jobs. schools, dating, etc.

Only tangentially related to your overall point, but what I've noticed is that a large portion of people essentially desire to be passive contributors to a community. They want to a community that fits their exacting standards but they don't actually want to contribute anything more than passively paying taxes and maybe if they are feeling generous, show up to events other people organize. Unfortunately that doesn't work. Communities need active participants, people willing to get their hands dirty, run for local office, organize the social events, run third spaces. Is it any shock that the community is transformed by people who do want to participate? These larger areas have access to better things because there are just more people participating. in large part because there are more people.

The other point is that you need to decide what is important to you. If you want all the best amenities then you are going to have to compromise, that or build your own Texas-but-whites-only with blackjack and hookers. I have a conservative friend, in our largely progressive city. He constantly complains that his dating options are basically zero because all the women here are progs. He, like plenty of my other conservative friends, could move more out to the country where it is just generally more conservative. But then he'd have to give up his FAANG job, his FAANG salary, all the great amenities he can buy with this FAANG salary etc. He is obviously against that. He wants our area to just become more conservative, through the power of wishes. God forbid he actually become an active participant. He wants to eat his cake and have it too. People making this complaint about Texas and it being Non-White central have a similar vibe.

I am unsympathetic to that line of argumentation.

Not sure this was your intent, but it reads like you are framing this as "white people less likely to actively build community" when data suggests the opposite is the case.

Domestic migration patterns in particular bear this out. People of all ethnicities constantly move towards white areas and away from non-white ones.

"white people less likely to actively build community"

Absolutely not. White people build plenty of community in America. However it feels like a large section of modern American citizens are essentially coasting through life on everything. Resting on the laurels of their ancestors, be they white, brown, yellow, grey, green, purple, idk. A large cross section of people have lost the desire to put in active efforts. On my own hobby horse, the tree of liberty is dying, many people who benefit from it, have decided that actively fighting for it is just too much work, requires too much sacrifice, so are content to make it someone else's problem. They still complain about it dying, but they are unwilling to put any effort into it.

Can you blame them? The government is not receptive to the changes people want. People can have some local control, but they are unable to turn back the tides of the decisions made in Washington:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_California_Proposition_187

Anything they try to do will be shot down. We have 0 control over our government and the apathy is a rational response. If you want to make serious change, you will have to make great sacrifices and dedicate your life to it. Most people just want to go along to get along, and it has always been that way.

If you want to make serious change, you will have to make great sacrifices and dedicate your life to it.

YES!!! And people have always had to do so. It has never been the case otherwise. People now want great change without having to make serious effort.

The government is not receptive to the changes people want. People can have some local control, but they are unable to turn back the tides of the decisions made in Washington

It takes time, it takes a continual effort. Your legs have atrophied because you refuse to get up off the couch, pretending its time to run a marathon is fantastical. People have rested on the efforts of their forefathers for too long.

Most people just want to go along to get along, and it has always been that way.

Yes and if you just want to passively exist your way through life then you are at the mercy of those who are active. Call it a variation of: "The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must"

Moving to the middle of nowhere to build a conservative community accomplishes the opposite of what you are encouraging people to do. It's just running away, and is actually more self destructive. You are doing nothing and lying to yourself that you are doing something. A conservative SWE at Google has more power to affect change than a whole town of conservatives in Nebraska. Your strategy is literally they worst strategy possible. The only way to make changes is to get into the most elite institutions or build alternative ones. Anything else is a waste of time.

The only way to make changes is to get into the most elite institutions or build alternative ones

That would require him to be an active participant. I think my two suggested solutions were: either move, or be the change. You are just agreeing that "being the change" is a better strategy. "being the change" might be more effective but it can also be more lonely. The pragmatic answer is "do you want to be happy now" or "make it so others like you can be happy in the future"