This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Netanyahu speech to Congress
Wonder what his goals were here - are 2000 pound bombs really that necessary still? Getting republicans to clap like seals while his own generals are telling him to make a peace deal isn't going to do much to advance real war goals. Biden also gave his own speech hours later, perhaps intentionally to overshadow it - full respect to joe if that's what he was going for.
Seriously though why do Rs love this guy so much? He has like a 20% approval rating in Israel. Is it just because of his historical track record of disrespecting dems?
It's just good Republican strategy.
Just this very day in DC we saw protestors – many of the white and overeducated variety – take down the American flag, burn it, and then raise the Palestinian flag in its place.
If Democrats are the Palestine party then Republicans are the Israel party. They don't really care about Netanyahu specifically. But the war has driven a wedge between key Democratic Party interest groups. So many of our nation's richest and highest performing people are Jewish. The leftist fetish for Palestinian terrorists has been eye-opening to a lot of Jews who would have previously counted themselves as important Democratic donors and allies.
At some point Kamala will have to make a statement. And whatever she says is going to piss off a lot of her supporters. The contradictions in the Democratic Party are too strong. It's a brilliant wedge issue for the Republicans.
They are literally arming Israel on a massive scale and giving tens of billions in foreign aid to Israel while they are fighting an incredibly brutal war. The level of cucking required to satisfy jewish donors is just next level.
The great thing about such over the top rhetoric is I don't know what any of your ambiguous pronouns are referring to? Is it Dems or Reps being cucked? Who is fighting the brutal war?
In any case, the main problem is "humanitarian" aid to Palestine, which is just terrorist funding by another name, and since terrorism is cheap when your perps don't care about dying, it pays off at like 100k-1 compared to military aide for precision strike bombs.
Both. They might as well have come to the speech in a gimp suit.
Israel is fighting with a genocidal level of brutality.
Why would the Palestinians not put up armed resistance? I find it amazing that Americans talk about gun rights yet don't expect others to fight when they are being occupied.
Id disagree with that characterization of Israeli war efforts. They are being meek and timid from my POV.
Palestinians are not like Americans. They are like Amerindians. They had their go at it and lost. They can accept their loss gracefully or get good. I have no interest in the continued terrorism where their goal is to engender sympathy with losers in the West who think being bad at life is an indication of virtue.
Compare Israels fighting with the British in northern Ireland. The Brits weren't bombing tens of thousands of people to death. Levelling an entire city while not letting people flee is beyond absurd.
The Irish had their go many times before they won. The Algerians had their go on and off for a century before they won. There is nothing that says they won't win in the end. Israel is an infeasible nation and the Palestinian population is booming compared to the Israeli population. Combined with better tech such as drones and rockets, it is fully possible to turn Israel into a Rhodesia. If the Palestinians simply gave up, they would be genocided and removed from the area. Their best bet is to learn from the Iraqis that kicked their occupiers out.
The Palestinians appeal to us who don't want christians ethnically cleansed from the Holy land and those who don't want a mega-refugee crisis on Europe's doorstep. Israel's lobby is directly damaging the west. Palestinians appeal to us who want to see people live by the spirit of the second amendment.
#1. Why would you compare an anti-terrorism operation with a war against a state's military and police forces?
#2. Israel has repeatedly informed civilians far ahead of time of their planned incursions (again, strong evidence against genocidal intent) it is Hamas police forces that prevent them from fleeing. Because, again, "civilian" deaths are the core strategy of Hamas.
No, if the Gazans gave up they would be a thing called the "Free State of Gaza" and would have open ports and free trade with the world. We need just go back to October 6, 2023. If on that day they had not been planning a wide ranging military incursion into Israel, Gazans would be much freer today. Indeed. If instead of launching the Oct 7 attack, they had instead went a whole year without launching rockets into Israel, I daresay they would be well on the way to being a respected member of the international community.
Palestinian co-ethnics are the ones who have ethnically cleansed Christians from the rest of the Middle East and North Africa. Giving them an additional territory will not improve the lives of Christians in the region. In addition, they are the force in the area ensuring there will be a refugee crisis. If they lose, apparently they threaten to flood Europe as some sort of blackmail. But if they win there will be 7 million Jews in desperate need of relocation as well.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link