keep thinking about this dumb trope from Star Trek called "Vulcan Diplomacy" and how it might actually be the solution to the American culture war.

I now this is stupid, please bear with me as I get into it.

The backstory on this is that the hyper-rational, technocratic, [mostly] peaceful Vulcans encountered the Klingon empire at some point. They first tried conventional "we come in peace" messaging and the Klingons shot at them immediately.

turns out that Klingons are a belligerent honor culture and interpret "we come in peace" as, basically, "we are lying to you to get you to lower your guard so we can fuck you later". i.e. as a grave threat and mark of dishonor.

To greet a Klingon properly you must approach with shields up, weapons energized, and tell them "we are strong and will respond to force with greater force". The Vulcans blew their first opportunity and had to reset their diplomatic efforts. How did they do it?

By spending several decades firing at Klingon vessels on sight, unprovoked. Not pursuing them or aiming to outright destroy them. But more than just warning shots. Aiming to damage their ships and demonstrate their technical superiority.

eventually the Klingons understood that the Vulcans were not to be fuckd with and they started having much more normal relations after their honor and strength was established.

ok, so here's where this stupid trope/analysis relates to the American culture war. We have a Blue culture that is Vulcan-esque and a Red culture that is Klingon-esque. Just look at the issue of e.g. gun control if you doubt this.

The Blue culture is consistently blind-sided by the outright hostility and distrust they receive from the Red culture. They think "wtf is wrong with these people? they assume malice all the time and accuse us of lying when we're telling the truth!"

this is consistent with an Honor culture interacting with a Dignity culture. The Honor culture WILL NOT EVER TRUST a Dignity culture on the terms of Dignity culture. They assume if you're not belligerent you're actually a snake.

So...what if the Blue culture started practicing Vulcan diplomacy? What if they switched to a stance not just of rhetorical irritation or media narrative manipulation (things the Honor culture disrespects) but actually adopted belligerent footing and started attacking unprovoked?

The message would be "we see you're still doubting our power and resolve to use it. Fuck you. Eat shit. I will hurt you just because I can."

After a few years of this stance there might be opportunity to rapprochement. Or it might become civil war. Either way it would change.

The current status quo is clearly untenable and might be headed in this direction anyway. What if it was done intentionally? What if Blue culture states started just absolutely viciously attacking Red culture states in every way they possibly can?

This has been approximately the strategy the Red culture states have been using against the Blue culture states for about 40 years now. When you have an iterated prisoners dilemma the only meta-stable strategy is tit-for-tat but the Blue culture is still trying to cooperate.

Cooperation isn't working. They don't respect it. They don't see it as cooperation but rather as a subtle strategy to lie and manipulate things in their favor. Tit-for-tat is stable because there's only so much pain anyone is willing to endure in an iterated game.

The current level of tit-for-tat is insufficient. Congressional obstruction, attempts at using "non-partisan oversight", and a media narrative campaign. This ain't cutting it. It will have to be more intense to make a difference. Have to make the wounds hurt more.

I know this is crazy talk. Please forgive me. I'm not really sure what I'm even advocating here. I feel like we're close to a civil war anyway and the way out is to respect the situation that already exists: open hostility.

In other words, no peace without justice, no justice without retribution.

Dark times.