Polyticks: Bob Butler's Perspective

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You've clearly never been to the rural areas of Texas where we have multiple cultures living peacefully together. The problem with the cities are that they're crowded and nobody appreciates personal space and private property.

I didn’t happen to visit Texas, but there are obviously middle areas. In rural areas with lots of room and fewer cultures, there will be less conflict. In other urban areas of Texas it is not a good thing to be Latino. You will not see in rural areas the pressure you see in urban areas, unless of course you are a minority, disagree with the dominant religion trying to force their values on you, or you bump into a bad cop who will gleefully charge you with (fill in the blank) while black. I agree that personal space and private property are part of it, though I would quibble with the word ‘nobody’. Haters, bad cops and religious trying to impose values are hardly everybody. Around Boston, such are very rare lately, though during the bussing crisis of my youth you could find them easily enough. Even the biggest of cities will often be sanctuary cities, ready to welcome people of different cultures. Only in certain areas do you find a lot of hate.

I would add drugs the crime that come with them are a significant factor too.

But the trend is still that if you force multiple cultures closely together you get bad cops, hate groups and violence. Some consider these as problems to be solved. Others just enjoy hating.

Many rural areas of Texas are majority Latino, so again, you speak of what you do not know.

[Clarkmod]

I didn’t happen to visit Texas, but there are obviously middle areas. In rural areas with lots of room and fewer cultures, there will be less conflict. In other urban areas of Texas it is not a good thing to be Latino. You will not see in rural areas the pressure you see in urban areas, unless of course you are a minority, disagree with the dominant religion trying to force their values on you, or you bump into a bad cop who will gleefully charge you with (fill in the blank) while black. I agree that personal space and private property are part of it, though I would quibble with the word ‘nobody’. Haters, bad cops and religious trying to impose values are hardly everybody. Around Boston, such are very rare lately, though during the bussing crisis of my youth you could find them easily enough. Even the biggest of cities will often be sanctuary cities, ready to welcome people of different cultures. Only in certain areas do you find a lot of hate.

I would add drugs the crime that come with them are a significant factor too.

But the trend is still that if you force multiple cultures closely together you get bad cops, hate groups and violence. Some consider these as problems to be solved. Others just enjoy hating.

This is the view of a leftist that has never visited America. I'm starting to think that you are just winding people up with all of this.

I worry about the mental health of young white boys in the Anglo sphere in particular. What kind of self hatred and guilt is being absorbed by white male children after being taught by these malevolent religious zealots? In an age where inherent identity is everything, what happens when what you’re born as - white straight male - is the one identity it’s socially advantageous to demonise and sneer at and sideline. It doesn’t matter how deprived and disadvantaged he may be, a straight white male is always safe to hate.

[Clarkmod]

I worry about the mental health of young white boys in the Anglo sphere in particular. What kind of self hatred and guilt is being absorbed by white male children after being taught by these malevolent religious zealots? In an age where inherent identity is everything, what happens when what you’re born as - white straight male - is the one identity it’s socially advantageous to demonise and sneer at and sideline. It doesn’t matter how deprived and disadvantaged he may be, a straight white male is always safe to hate.

It happens that I today visited the Plymouth MA franchise of the Texas Roadhouse, complete with their genuine authentic stuffed jackalope. At a guess that makes me as much of an expert on Texas culture as a guy who took a 30 hour drive.

I wouldn’t characterize the criticism of rural culture as religious. I will disrespect bad cops who enforce the law including race as a primary criteria. I will disrespect spree shooters who will take a long rifle to a minority crowd. I would suggest someone using the government to expand their religious doctrines perilously close to establishing an official government religion. I would disrespect members of a rural organization who will pile into a pickup truck to drive to a city and instigate violence.

But I am a devout agnostic. My distrust of these and similar behaviors is not religious, but moral.

It is a central thesis of Generational Dynamics that some cultures will encourage hatred of others, thus making their army or other violent actors more effective. True enough. Through most of human history violence was cost effective. If you couldn’t handle a rival group who embraced violence you were at a disadvantage. It is good thing to be aware of this tendency of many to hate. It is a bad idea in this time of nukes, proxy wars, insurgent wars and sanctions to actively embrace hate, to encourage it, to include hate in your own culture.

This does mesh well with many religious cultures and doctrines. ‘Love thy neighbor.’ ‘Do as you will, but harm none.’ But you can reach the conclusion that hate is harmful to your own culture from a secular perspective.

It is the propensity of some rural “white straight males” to engage in this hate that is problematic. Hey, I am a white straight male too, but don’t engage in hateful action that results in being considered a pariah. If you are worried about it, just don’t hate. Don’t get tangled up in the problematic behaviors.

[Clarkmod]

FDR formalized containment. Prevent autocratic powers from expanding while preventing escalation. While the Republicans have talked a lot about being strong, for some reason it is when the Democrats are in power that America has said no. Now you want to abandon containment? Give Trump's autocratic pal Putin the land he craves?

[Clarkmod]

FDR formalized containment. Prevent autocratic powers from expanding while preventing escalation. While the Republicans have talked a lot about being strong, for some reason it is when the Democrats are in power that America has said no. Now you want to abandon containment? Give Trump's autocratic pal Putin the land he craves?

If you look at maps of geopolitical influence from 1945 onward you'll see that the spread of Communism didn't stop until a certain Ronald Reagan became president. Containment was a failure. It's hard for Democrats to stand up to authoritarians when what they really want is to emulate them.

[Clarkmod]

If you look at maps of geopolitical influence from 1945 onward you'll see that the spread of Communism didn't stop until a certain Ronald Reagan became president. Containment was a failure. It's hard for Democrats to stand up to authoritarians when what they really want is to emulate them.

Reagan’s mighty conquest of a Commonwealth country didn’t end autocratic conquest. Chernobyl did end the Soviet Union, but the West had nothing to do with that. In places like Taiwan, Syria and Ukraine, the threat or deed of autocratic conquest went on. NATO is doing contain as they were always intended to do. The approach did not fail, but is dominating. While Putin has declined to meet the obvious defeat, continuing on the current course should do it if the Republicans don’t cave.

[Clarkmod]

If you look at maps of geopolitical influence from 1945 onward you'll see that the spread of Communism didn't stop until a certain Ronald Reagan became president. Containment was a failure. It's hard for Democrats to stand up to authoritarians when what they really want is to emulate them.

Reagan’s mighty conquest of a Commonwealth country didn’t end autocratic conquest. Chernobyl did end the Soviet Union, but the West had nothing to do with that. In places like Taiwan, Syria and Ukraine, the threat or deed of autocratic conquest went on. NATO is doing contain as they were always intended to do. The approach did not fail, but is dominating. While Putin has declined to meet the obvious defeat, continuing on the current course should do it if the Republicans don’t cave.

Did you actually look at the maps to see when Communism stopped spreading, and started receding? Let me know when you do.

If the Republicans don't cave? Who was in power when this Ukraine business started, and who is STILL in power?

[Clarkmod]

If the Republicans don't cave? Who was in power when this Ukraine business started, and who is STILL in power?

Of course the Democrats were in charge. The Republicans talk about peace through strength, but it is the Democrats who put containment into action. Yes, the name changed after Chernobyl, but whether you call it the USSR or Russia, the threat of autocratic expansion is the same.

The wrinkles this time is that Ukraine is a major food exporter, Russia a major energy exporter. A smallish war thus has international implications. Your analysis centers on secondary issues and thus misses the point entirely.

Another wrinkle? In some ways Marx was right. There come times when noble autocracies and colonial exploitation are so bad that pursing containment is not to the advantage of the people. Communism is fatally flawed in that the revolutions take place in autocratic cultures, and the old autocratic system is just replaced with a new one. Vietnam is the classic example though of a place where the revolution favors the will of the people. Ukraine is not one such. There is no doubt that the people of Ukraine are fighting for what they care about. There was no way Putin could build up a hate campaign to invigorate and motivate his armed forces, so he disguised the effort as a training exercise or policing action. In many ways this is a vindication of Generational Dynamics, in how important it is to build up hatred of your opponent. Putin didn't, and is paying a price.

[Clarkmod]

Reagan’s mighty conquest of a Commonwealth country didn’t end autocratic conquest. Chernobyl did end the Soviet Union, but the West had nothing to do with that. In places like Taiwan, Syria and Ukraine, the threat or deed of autocratic conquest went on. NATO is doing contain as they were always intended to do. The approach did not fail, but is dominating. While Putin has declined to meet the obvious defeat, continuing on the current course should do it if the Republicans don’t cave.

Did you actually look at the maps to see when Communism stopped spreading, and started receding? Let me know when you do.

If the Republicans don't cave? Who was in power when this Ukraine business started, and who is STILL in power?

He can't even admit that the Biden Crime family is the public example of why America is failing. SSA and CMS are soon insolvent, and they send billions to other countries to stuff their family coffers, warmongers coffers, and the DNC's coffers. FTX was just a rich kid who made mistakes, right?

You guys (most here) are a joke in geopolitical understanding.

[Clarkmod]

Bob Butler, just a note that I appreciate your posts. You, Navigator, John, Utah Bob when he shows up…that’s about it. Makes scrolling this site quite rapid.