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 -
My understanding from American left twitter is that it's more than that. His campaign was supposed to be the proof-of-concept that economy-oriented left-wing politics can be a winning combo, that there was still room in the Dems for (white, but not only white) guys who vote left because they support the labor movement and a more equal division of wealth and that leaning towards that view would actually be good for the Dems to recoup the populist energy. (The fact that Fetterman comes from a family of means himself is mostly immaterial to that purpose, the history is full of people's champs who come from wealth themselves - you could see Trump himself that way.) Moreover, it was a good proof-of-concept race in the way that he was facing a rich guy who became rich through frivolous means, ie. being a celebrity TV doctor and selling quack cures.
When you've got a situation like that, game pieces all on board, the whiff of a slam-dunk event, of course you're going to hang on to that - and I would suspect that health situations where it's not immediately obvious how serious it's going to be are not the easiest thing in the world to use for demanding a candidate steps down, since you might just create potential conditions for someone else to do the same to you if you happen to catch a little bit of something.
I am very skeptical of this narrative. None of Fetterman's ads even hint at his left-wing politics, except when he has to try to defend past statements. His whole tone is built around heavily implying that he is a Trump/Carlson style right populist who wants to fight Washington, without ever mentioning any specific policies. Meanwhile, most of the attack ads against him are about how Fetterman is an extreme leftist.
I'm talking about the reasons why he was talked up when he was being made a candidate, and before it. It's unsurprising and expected that he'd run to the centre during the actual election.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link