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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 28, 2023

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When you provide evidence, it magically doesn't count, because you have evidence.

Yes, the "deep" modifier of "the deep state" suggests such layered institutional presence that "the deep state" controls what counts as "evidence," making it therefore impossible to prove its existence within deep state-controlled venues.

That's not true. "Deep" suggests a parallel power structure within the official government one, as in: "a state within a state".

Also, I was talking about all conspiracy theories, not just this one.

And you can't say "if it's true there would be evidence" and "if there's evidence, it's not true". The latter is nonsensical on it's own terms, but together it's just a plain contradiction.

Editing this out because I missed the last portion of your sentence somehow, and that means my objection is meaningless. Preserving it as a quote in case someone is working on a reply already.

Uh, no? As someone who uses the term deep state and has a rough idea of what I'm talking about when I do, there are mountains and mountains of evidence that this deep state exists. They have a level of influence over the media and society but their power isn't total. If you want an example of something that I'd view as direct action by the deep state, look at the Hunter Biden laptop letter that was signed by various members of the intelligence community. We now know that the people who signed that letter were actively lying and knew they were lying in order to shift an election, but what matters is that there is direct and primary evidence that the deep state is both real and using their influence to shift public opinion. There's been polls and research done which suggests that if the Hunter Biden laptop story wasn't suppressed it would have changed the outcome of the election.

That's a clear example of the deep state in action - they aren't the Learned Elders of Zion or the Stonecutters meeting in shady rooms, they are another power bloc competing for influence in the government. They have a lot of power in some respects but substantially less in others... but they really don't have the ability to decide what counts as evidence outside incredibly specific circumstances (FISA courts etc).