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 -
The loicense would be for non-taxed simple sugars for athletes
I don’t think ‘creating a black market in untaxed Gatorade’ is the best answer to obesity as a social crisis.
Consider (1) prohibitions are meant to reduce, not eliminate, (2) prohibitions have always worked to reduce in America, whether for alcohol or marijuana use (the latter having risen in legalized areas).
Black market would be a non-issue for Gatorade, which is a specially tailored product made by food scientists to cause habitual use. The black market would be for sugar, but since obesity is in part a problem of convenience, it’s still a non-issue. As someone who has smoked, I can assure you that tax-free tobacco is hard to come by.
Got a cite for that? The original recipe was developed specifically for athletes to deal with dehydration by a doctor who specialized in renal medicine. As originally used by the Gators the recipe was: water, salt, sodium citrate, fructose, monopotassium phosphate, lemon juice and cyclamate. Current ingredients for lemon lime: water, sugar, dextrose, citric acid, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, gum arabic, glycerol ester of rosin, natural flavor, yellow 5. I see a swap from fructose to dextrose and plain sugar for sweetening, but both are simple sugars. The cyclamate, an artificial sweetener originally added along with lemon juice to make the concoction palatable, was fully dropped. Citric acid and natural flavor replacing lemon juice for something like the same flavor that won't go bad in a matter of days unrefrigerated. Gum arabic and glycerol ester of rosin are stabilizers, so you don't have the flavorings, sugar or the salts settling to the bottom of the bottle. And yellow 5 for color. Everything seems more in line with modifications so that it can sit in a bottle on a shelf without going bad, not attempts to make it addictive. The sugar and salts are there for a reason. Pure water is not great when dehydrated, the human body needs electrolytes (sugar and salts) as well. Plants are a different story.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link