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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 15, 2023

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If that's the case it's a bit odd you insist that people complaining about censorship / "losing soft power conflicts" are mostly "right wing American populists".

Why? The point is that David Shor - someone who I do not regard as a political adversary, per your accusation of one-sidedness - was the victim of a social media mob that got him fired. Not that he spent a lot of time complaining about "censorship" i.e. being moderated on social media (he doesn't)

The people complaining loudest and longest about 'censorship' on social media are right-wing populists - Trumpists and the like, or people even further right like groypers.

I did not realize that was my model.

It sure appears that way:

my argument that the people losing the soft power conflicts aren't unpopular, and that if they were unpopular, you wouldn't need to exercise soft power to silence them.

I'm not sure how else to interpret it.

The people complaining loudest and longest about censorship are disaffected liberals, called "rightwing populists" by some. They have loudly complained about the David Shor case as it was happening, which you will find if you search /r/TheMotte or SSC (not sure which one was hosting the CW thread at the time) for his name. The fact that you're trying to use his case to your advantage and against people who were bringing his case to light is insane, and why it's hard for me to believe you don't count him as your adversary.

I'm not sure how else to interpret it.

Simple: people prefer to expand as little effort as possible, and true unpopularity would kill an idea while expanding essentially zero effort.