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 -
Not at all. At least not enough to bias my judgement in any significant way. Or so I'd say.
I was just offering you a counter to the notion that people are showing their disdain towards artists because of some inherent jealously. That instead in some cases, people are just punching back.
Ofcourse its not that the "stemcels" never fling shit at the "creatives". "I'd like my big mac without pickles" is a classic. But one party making fun of the other is gauche and considered punching down and the inverse of that can range from an ice breaker to a status symbol. Seriously go spend some time in /r/redscarepod you will come away with the impression that knowing what an equation is is equivalent to living in the sewers to a certain type of people.
And for all I care, those people can eat shit. Ofcourse as always @DaseindustriesLtd says it better than I can.
I am sympathetic to those losing their jobs. If they had the intellectual honesty to say "its sucks that we can't pay rent anymore" I would feel for them. Instead they are doubling down at the face of almost literal science fiction as to how much of special snowflakes they actually are (despite being shown otherwise) and further doubling down at berating the people who hold the keys to their livelihoods. They are not exactly acting in a way that invokes a feeling of mercy.
There is no attempt to even retreat to the motte of "we just don't want to starve" they are fighting from their bailey of "artists have a touch of the divine, anyone who suggests otherwise is the devil and should be treated as such".
More options
Context Copy link