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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   25389 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 1, 2024

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I feel I should note that there is such a thing as "being neutral", and thus that RenOS' note that he doesn't want to ally with you is not the same thing as declaring alliance with your enemies.

You might consider neutrality naïve, and you might very well be right, but you can't just treat naïveté as malice - not if you want to be intellectually honest, anyway.

I probably was harsh, and RenOS rightly accused me of venting my frustration here.

But I don't think my OP implied it was just malice. There are many reasons (few of which I respect) for this behavior on the part of the actual left-wing liberals who're now disillusioned.

If I had a problem with your post, I'd have replied to it. It was Nybbler's "You still seem willing to prefer as allies" that pinged my "objectionable inference" radar.

Yeah, but he was right. Your radar might need calibration.

Nevertheless, and yes this is precisely what I mean, if you try to force me into a binary left-wing orthodoxy vs right-wing orthodoxy, both enforced equally, I'll choose the left everytime. The right needs to be significantly less orthodox for me to consider it.

Note the word "force". "If you put a gun to my head and demand I ally with X or anti-X, I pick anti-X" =/= "I am, IRL, allied to anti-X".

I feel I should note that there is such a thing as "being neutral"

It's an awfully one-sided neutrality that supports the left when it agrees with the left, and refuses to support the right when it agrees with the right.

We see that in the United States a lot. People who, when asked, are closer to Republicans than Democrats on most issues but still vote blue.

Voting is more about tribal affiliation and personal purity than about issues.

Voting Republican gives some people the "ick". So even though they hate homeless encampments, drug overdoses, crime, and broken public schools, they still vote for far left candidates in their city election.

Voting Republican gives some people the "ick".

That, or they don't trust Republicans.

Or polling doesn't capture their priorities (or the polls are just bad).

Or they are tribal and they intuit that Republicans won't accept them.

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