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Perhaps you should use the internet and find out before asking questions that are stupendously biased.


Was just discussing this with my wife


Everything American is in trouble.


Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and taking HN threads further into flamewar? We already asked you this recently (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42936238) and you've continued to do a ton of it.

If you keep this up, we're going to have to ban you, so if you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.


[flagged]


Please consider making that case in a more substantive manner.

Glib off the cuff ankle deep sophisms do well on reddit, here you can have impact making a stronger case.


Yep. We're legitimately under attack.


How is defending against Putin's encroachment on a soverign country "saber-rattling"?


If X is encroaching on Y and you're all the way over in Z, you're not defending yourself; you're deliberately getting getting involved in someone else's problem. Maybe the numbers are in your favor, or it's "the right thing to do," but Europeans have been using similar rationale to destroy their continent over and over again for centuries. I'm not judging at this point—it's probably just in your blood. The rest of the world just wants you to pay for it from here on out.


This sounds a lot like being pro-bully. Also, it sounds like you dont unserstand what saber-rattling is. Putin is the one who is saber rattling. We are helping him pay for it by helping him steal land from Ukraine.


Nothing like being stuck betweentwo hegemons to galvanize a continent.

As an American: I stand with Europe.


Move there, see how it actually is. I spent almost a decade there. I prefer USA, it's not even close.


...how it actually is? What do you mean?


You have to experience it. Living and working in Europe. Do it for a few years. Then see what you prefer.


This is not a convincing argument. It tells me nothing about why I should not stand with Europe, rather than American isolationism and pro-Putinism. It doesnt even support your own claim about how Europe "actually" is. Wtf does that even mean.

>Europe is sooooooo actually.

What??? What does that mean?

>Idk man you just have to know how actually Europe is.

Though I have not lived in Europe, I have traveled there frequently and hold EU citizenship and I cant fathom what you are saying except your prefrence for America, but not why you prefer it.


Yes. I see this as a battle against authoritarianism, which is always worth fighting.


For Americans, this is also a battle we need to fight at home.


Well, what we have now is manifestly not conservatism. I would argue it is Yarvinism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Yarvin

"In his blog Unqualified Reservations, which he wrote from 2007 to 2014, and in his later newsletter Gray Mirror, which he started in 2020, he argues that American democracy is a failed experiment[5] that should be replaced by an accountable monarchy, similar to the governance structure of corporations.[6] In 2002, Yarvin began work on a personal software project that eventually became the Urbit networked computing platform. In 2013, he co-founded the company Tlon to oversee the Urbit project and helped lead it until 2019.[7]

Yarvin has been described as a "neo-reactionary", "neo-monarchist" and "neo-feudalist" who "sees liberalism as creating a Matrix-like totalitarian system, and who wants to replace American democracy with a sort of techno-monarchy".[8][9][10][11] He has defended the institution of slavery, and has suggested that certain races may be more naturally inclined toward servitude than others.[12][13] He has claimed that whites have higher IQs than black people, but does not consider himself a white nationalist. He is a critic of US civil rights programs, and has called the civil rights movement a "black-rage industry".[14]

Yarvin has influenced some prominent Silicon Valley investors and Republican politicians, with venture capitalist Peter Thiel described as his "most important connection".[15] Political strategist Steve Bannon has read and admired his work.[16] U.S. Vice President JD Vance "has cited Yarvin as an influence himself."[17][18][19] Michael Anton, the State Department Director of Policy Planning during Trump's second presidency, has also discussed Yarvin's ideas.[20] In January 2025, Yarvin attended a Trump inaugural gala in Washington; Politico reported he was "an informal guest of honor" due to his "outsize influence over the Trumpian right."[21]"


The best case against this are people formerly from Trump's inner circle who say he really has no ideal or political agenda except for himself.

You are right though. There is nothing "conservative" about the current "conservative" party. It is 100% pure reactionary. The only principles are opposition to what "the opposition" wants.


If liberalism is creating a Matrix-like totalitarian system, then what the hell is techno-monarchy creating?


More of a torment nexus.


I guess that only someone who would see himself on top could conceive something so perverted


Yarvin has stated he absolutely is not the person on top. That he’s not cut out to be that person. His role is the philosopher; more a priest than prince.


Those tend to get killed pretty quickly, unless they are completely willing to subjugate themselves to the person on the top.

Either Yarvin is so ignorant of history that he’s barely worth listening to, or he is actively malevolent, and intentionally deceptive, OR he has absolutely no qualms about bending his “philosophy” to the whims of whoever happens to control the executioner.

Take your pick.


To quote William Burroughs, 'beware of whores who say they don't want money. What they mean is they want more money...much more.'


It’s a great quote and true if Sam Altman is any example. I don’t know Yarvin but he has pretty much explicitly said and taken actions which suggest he’s not interested in ruling. He’s written many thousands of words why he wouldn’t be a good ruler.

But he is explicit in his desire for a ruler.


Yarvin doesn't want all the bother of trying to become a monarch (a lifetime quest), but I'm sure you can think of historical advisers to royalty that have made themselves indispensable to several generations of rulers.


MMA-based diplomacy.


More like WWE


More like department of education.


Yeah, I watched as much of the video as I could, and I can totally see this playing well with all the conservatives I know. JD Vance and Trump come off as strong, and Zelensky comes off as weak.


The only one who looked strong was zelensky to me. But I’m sure the maga base will eat this up and oddly are pro Russia now.


It's funny, I mean I don't know the exact divide between MAGA and trad Republicans, but the trad Republicans I know have been the ones to turn pro-Russia. There definitely seems to be a split in /r/conservative.


No, they come off as weak little babies whining about someone not saying thank you.


Who are you telling, but they're not playing to us.


That's not what strength looks like, but the American right-wing probably will think it is.


Cue the super-cut of Zelensky thanking the U.S. since probably December 2022.


This is by design. Aleksandr Dugin literally wrote the playbook; it is called "Foundations of Geopolitics":

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics


What was that about free markets, Jeff?


Wapo is storied and all but i honestly wonder how you guys could collectively forget newspapers during the gilged age. I'm not saying it's good or bad just that the pseudo umbrage is misplaced


Alternate take: the gilded age was bad for most people, and we dont want to go back.


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