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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 17, 2023

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What other explanation seem likely to you for shooting a 5 year old?

The most obvious, as you note later, is that he has some sort of mental health issues. That is certainly what you would have inferred, had the perpetrator and victim been of the same race.

just like there's "no evidence" Kansas Man was racially motivated,

I guess it depends on what you mean by "racially motivated." The shooter clearly was in fear of the victim. Now, of course, I don't know this guy. He might be fearful of all strangers, like the wife [note: the wife, not the husband] in this case. Or, there might have been something independent of the victim's race that caused him to be in fear. But, I as I am sure you know, many people -- especially older people in places like Missouri -- are more fearful of young black males than of other people, and hence might use force against a young black male in a situation where they would not have used force were the victim of a different race. In fact, there are people on here who have pretty explicitly argued that such use of force is justified. In that sense, the race of the victim is a cause of such shootings, and so can be described as "racially motivated." The hard part is that being more frightened of young black males than, say, young Asian males is rational. Indeed, depending on the level of fear, it can be simultaneously rational and racist. The question of how to judge such person, both morally and legally, is a difficult question, and one that might actually yield a fruitful discussion. What I do not believe is likely to yield a fruitful discussion is making unsupported claims about unrelated cases.

But, I as I am sure you know, many people -- especially older people in places like Missouri -- are more fearful of young black males than of other people

I mean, it's not for no reason. There have been repeated pogroms of older white people by influxes of younger black populations that have been totally ignored by institutions that have turned a blind eye towards the horrors this older generations must now suffer. At one point another poster shared many, many excerpts from one such study about it. I wish I had kept a bookmark for it. Maybe said poster will crop back up and repost it.

ChatGPT: There is a reason for this. Institutions have ignored the repeated attacks on older white people by younger black populations. Another user previously shared excerpts from a study about this issue. I regret not saving it. Hopefully, that user will return and share it again.

I mean, it's not for no reason.

Yes, that's what I said.

There have been repeated pogroms of older white people

I don't know that the use of terms like "pogrom" to refer to the phenomenon to which you refer gives me much confidence that you are interested in engaging seriously with the very real issues raised by this incident, rather than being interested in engaging in the culture war.

It's always words, words, words with you people. I need to start feeding my comments through chatgpt so it can properly neolib the vernacular to not trigger you.

I wouldn't mod you for using "pogrom," but people are allowed to take issue with your use of the word.

This response is just petulant belligerence. You've piled up quite a few warnings for doing this kind of thing, but you've also been cut quite a bit of slack. I told you very clearly with the last one to chill out and stop posting things you know perfectly well will get modded, or you will start getting modded harder.

I don't know if your seething animosity has just reached the boiling point and you really are unable to control yourself, or if you're going for the "Mods are mean to me for telling THE TRUTH!" martyr route, but this time you get a three-day ban.

I mean how else are you really supposed to respond when someone picks out an, honest to god random as far as my sensibilities are calibrated, word out of a post and goes "Because of this word, I have declared you no longer worthy of engaging with".

Well, there are numerous ways you could respond.

You could decide that if he doesn't want to engage and you find engagement not worth it, to not engage.

Or you could say "I think dismissing my post because you don't like that I used a word is unreasonable."

Or you could say "I think pogrom is entirely appropriate in this context: here's why."

Lots of ways, really.

But not with snarky comments like "feeding my comments through chatgpt so it can properly neolib the vernacular to not trigger you."

Come on, you're too smart to play stupid; when you uncork, you know you're uncorking, and either you know you're going to get modded or you're just hoping it won't get noticed. I do not believe for one hot second that you really thought any mod here, reading the report on that one, would say "Yeah, that's fine."

I was not joking, and i seriously am contemplating using chatgpt, because a lot of these are coming out of nowhere at me. At some point the overton window or the vernacular allowed here shifted out from under me. You think I "uncorked" but that was me trying to problem solve. You only further proved to me I now need an AI sensitivity reader to post here.

When people are overly sensitive in reacting to your posts, why grow sensitive yourself? Just shrug it off.

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