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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 26, 2024

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I, like the rest of the country, feel like nothing good will come of the election. However, I feel this way for a slightly different reason than your average person, and probably closer to the average Mottezian.

I actually don't really care too much who is president. Either one of them would IMO do a good enough job. I mostly care whether the president impacts my everyday life or causes nuclear war. However, though it isn't his fault directly, having Trump in charge would impact my everyday life negatively, mostly because it would fuel another 4 years of incessant leftist whining all around me, from all my friends and family, along with people starting to (erroneously, IMO) see and declare that racism and sexism is everywhere again. It'll start causing fights between me and my wife again. My workplace and all local institutions will start making statements about how they're standing up to Trump and racism. Under Biden, I have truly enjoyed some nice peace and respite from politics.

However, I find this state of affairs to be very irritating. It feels like the left, or at least the leftists in my life, are taking an infantile tactic: we better win or we'll whine and complain for 4 years. I don't respect sore losers, and moreover, I don't like the fact that there is no path forward for the right.

Scott said this back in 2016:

If the next generation is radicalized by Trump being a bad president, they’re not just going to lean left. They’re going to lean regressive, totalitarian, super-social-justice left.

Scott was absolutely correct here in how it played out. But what option does this leave the non leftists with? If the Democrat wins, then the currents move left. We get leftism enshrined into law over the next 4 years, because to the victor go the spoils. If the Republican wins, then the undercurrents move left, and more and more people get radicalized towards the left.

Is there a way for the currents to move right without the undercurrents moving left? Or is Trump just uniquely bad at making that happen? I'm tempted to say that this is just the fact that Trump is a polarizing figure, but at the same time, all the leftists I know scream bloody murder whenever a Republican is in command. They were infantile under George W Bush. And though I wasn't around then, I know many people who are still salty over Reagan and act like he was the worst.

It feels like the left, or at least the leftists in my life, are taking an infantile tactic: we better win or we'll whine and complain for 4 years.

From my position as a moderately liberal griller this sounds like exactly what the right did after Trump lost: whining about stolen elections, utterly and embarrassingly paralyzing Congress, leading half the country into a fact-free conspiracy fantasy land, and so on.

Scott was absolutely correct here in how it played out.

?? Biden has been extremely moderate and a bunch of far left cultural elements seem to be coming to heel. What’s going on in the movie you’re watching?

From my position as a moderately liberal griller this sounds like exactly what the right did after Trump lost: whining about stolen elections, utterly and embarrassingly paralyzing Congress, leading half the country into a fact-free conspiracy fantasy land, and so on.

Wow, sounds rough. It sure puts things into perspective. I now feel silly for complaining about riots resulting from a drug addict dying in police custody, which caused a massive spike in crime across America, an international rape hysteria that resulted in any form of benefit of doubt being thrown out in the court of public opinion, possibly the biggest medical scandal in recent history seeing thousands of children undergo irreversible hormonal and surgical interventions, the philosophical view that caused it becoming so enmeshed that teachers in many western countries help to facilitate the process while keeping it secret from the kid's parents, and law enforcement hardly think twice about sending rapists to female prisons, and having to talk about all that on a self-hosted forum, because that's the way you co discuss these topics without the fear of getting banned, and having to do so anonymously for fear of losing my job.

I should worry more about real things like my political outgroup "whining", paralyzing congress, believing in conspiracy theories, and other things that haven't been claimed by every group about it's political opposition in every democratic country, ever.

What’s going on in the movie you’re watching?

Indeed. Can you give me an example of an extremist democratic president, you'd understand people complaining about? And a few example of far-left cultural elements coming to heel?

Trump was president in 2020.

So it’s strange you bring up the Floyd situation in response to that comment talking about complaints after Trump left office.

Tomato was talking how red tribe reacted to Trump leaving office, so I compared it to how blue tribe reacted to Trump entering office. What's strange about that?

Riots in 2020 were not reacting to Trump entering office.

So your sense of chronology seems a bit off.

I completely agree that things would have (almost certainly) gotten less out of hand if Hillary (or any Dem) had been president.

Not sure how that should influence your vote.

Riots in 2020 were not reacting to Trump entering office.

I completely agree that things would have (almost certainly) gotten less out of hand if Hillary (or any Dem) had been president.

Now you're just being pedantic.

Not sure how that should influence your vote.

Vote for who your brain / heart tells you to, I was just addressing the claim which tribe's reaction was worse.

It’s remarkable you think it’s “pedantic” to point out you aren’t responding with apples to apples in your comparison based on chronology alone, even without the whole issue that the 2020 riots did not have anything explicit to do with Trump, since it’s not the federal government that controls the police.

You can still believe the Blue tribe is bad. I’m not trying to convince you it’s not. I don’t like them either and I certainly think the 2020 riots were atrocious and excused by many progressives, along with the “defund the police” insanity.

But do try to criticize your outgroup accurately when you do it. The Motte is best when we can at least be consistent and precise even when we’re not charitable.

It’s remarkable you think it’s “pedantic” to point out you aren’t responding with apples to apples in your comparison based on chronology alone,

Why? Yes, I shouldn't have used the word entering, because that allowed you to restrict the analysis to the period when his term only started. That's what pedantic means.

even without the whole issue that the 2020 riots did not have anything explicit to do with Trump, since it’s not the federal government that controls the police.

That's only relevant if you take the BLM movement at face value, and believe they were actually concerned with the police's conduct, or "black lives" for that matter.

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