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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 19, 2022

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Personally, I'd consider "being sure the right lessons are learned" to be more important than "making sure the right people are punished," if I had to choose between them. If we settle into a narrative of "the Bad Thing happened because of the Bad People," and not because of Bad Decisions or Bad Behaviors that really made the difference, we can fall into the trap of believing that, so long as none of the people around bear the marks-of-shame tribal-signifiers of the Bad People, we are incapable of repeating their mistakes. And if any such mistakes are made, why then, it must be because of Secret Bad People who were lurking among us! They must be found and killed!

I do not want to lose sight of the fact that I could be an avocado toast person the next go-round. Hopefully avoiding complacency will help me stay on the right path.

But learning the right lessons implies learning from mistakes and admitting them.