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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 4, 2023

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I think it’s a pretty normal thing really. Things like government are really easy to hate on simply because no one living today in a modern city has ever lived in the state of complete lack of government. As such, you see the state of the world where men have at least some fear of the government, of the police, or other authorities and simply assume that this is the state of nature. It’s not. Places that are really truly lawless end up being places full of gangs, thieves and tribal and clan warfare simply because that is the state of nature. Humans are quite capable of taking advantage of the people around them and thus you live in a state of distrust of anyone not in your group. I don’t think this is controversial, we are animals just like all the rest of them, and evolutionary history is such that it’s the law of survival of the fittest with red teeth and claws.

And likewise I think a lot of arguing about policing gets stuck in the same ruts. Most of us have never had to face what cops do, and have no idea what they’re talking about. They don’t know about the risks of hidden weapons, the drug users who don’t feel pain because of the drug, the need to prevent the person they’re arresting from getting their weapon. Cops can and have gone too far. I’m not saying that. But I’ve always found the demands of the activists to be silly. You cannot expect a criminal to submit to arrest because you asked him nicely, or assume that a person reaching for something isn’t reaching for a gun or other weapon.