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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 21, 2023

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Isn't the

Abortion is good if the child is low IQ/degenerate/black.

Perspective the same as the

Conservative: "A child's right to life is paramount, and killing them is wrong.

Perspective if only applied to my high-IQ, non-degenerate, white in-group?

That is something that they share. But there's a big difference in how they get there

The conservative is committed to universalism / believing that we need to help the low-iq and black as much as the high-iq and white. They both suffer, feel, and experience life in the same ways, after all. It's a deeply Christian idea. Also, I think they get to anti-abortion in large part via 'the baby is a weak and vulnerable person so killing them is extra bad'.

The 'maybe it's killing babies, maybe it isn't, it's fine either way' reactionary believes what's valuable in a person is specific to - I'd like to say their capacity for impact, contribution, and deep experience, but it's usually just a confused form of contrarian racist tribalism. But for the idealized reactionary of which maybe 50 exist, the vulnerability of the baby plays much less of a role than their potential to be a Great Man, and then their potential to be a productive member of society. (not a comment about anyone on themotte, just those people generally).