A couple of years before gay marriage in America became legal in all fifty states via Obergefell v. Hodges, the journalist Steve Sailer presciently predicted that the next front in the culture war would be what he called “World War T”;
For awhile now, I’ve been predicting that the structure of the dominant contemporary mindset means that with the triumph of gay marriage, a need will be felt for a new front in the elite culture war on average people, with “transgenderism” (a catch-all phrase for a variety of complaints) the most likely salient.
I must thank the New York Times for tirelessly generating new evidence that my prediction of World War T was on the money.
As often happens with Sailer’s ideas, this one emerged in the mainstream media years later, this time in a Tucker Carlson monologue about why we are risking World War III in the Ukraine War. More on that below.
World War T and World War III
In a previous post (“Elon Musk Tries To Prevent World War III”), I mentioned that one factor driving American elites’ urge to escalate our current proxy war with Russia was Vladimir Putin’s (and Russia’s) status as an ideological opponent. Putin’s opposition to World War T (although he didn’t use that phrase) was exemplified by this section of his September 21st speech:
That our proxy war with Russia in Ukraine is due in part to World War T was illustrated by Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (D-Maryland) press release last Tuesday. Raskin wrote it after 25 progressive House members who had called for negotiations with Russia walked back their modest call for peace the following day:
October 25, 2022
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Jamie Raskin today released the following statement.
“I am glad to learn of the withdrawal of the letter of October 24, 2022, which—because of its unfortunate timing and other flaws […]
“Moscow right now is a hub of corrupt tyranny, censorship, authoritarian repression, police violence, propaganda, government lies and disinformation, and planning for war crimes. It is a world center of antifeminist, antigay, anti-trans hatred, as well as the homeland of replacement theory for export.
via Rep Raskin’s October 25th press release linked to above.
Tucker Carlson referred to Raskin’s press release in this monologue a couple of days later. Tucker noted that our “jihad” against Russia was leading to energy shortages both here and in Europe, and said this was in service to our “World War Trans”.
What This Has To Do With Twitter
Twitter is where today’s conventional wisdom gets molded and forged, and where (at least until Elon Musk’s takeover this week), the borders of the Overton window are set. More ominously, it’s where social contagions are incubated, such as the ludicrous dichotomy between Russia and Ukraine that Raskin presented in his press release.
This is dumb on its face. Russia is more diverse than the Ukraine, and has an ethnic minority (Tuvan) defense minister. They also have a (competent) woman central bank chief, and the Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera is the national hero of Ukraine, not Russia.
— David Pinsen (@dpinsen) October 25, 2022
It’s worth remembering too, that the likely spark that spurred Musk to buy Twitter was Twitter suspending the Christian satirical site The Babylon Bee for a World War T joke: naming Admiral Levine (pictured below) as their Man of the Year.
By taking over the world’s town square, Elon Musk has an opportunity to allow dissident voices to challenge the narrative promoted by World War T jihadists such as Rep. Raskin, and hopefully bring some sanity to our Ukraine policy before it leads to mushroom clouds.