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 brain is broken as a result of the past few years, and I feel not the slightest inclination to fix it.
To surmise a very long story, I was an r9k tier NEET sadsack up until a few years ago when I began the uphill struggle to rebuild my life. By 2019 I had managed to get a job I would normally have required a degree for and normal friends I went to the pub with, both of which are things I thought I could never obtain. At the start of 2020 I was looking for a place of my own, which is exactly when the (UK) lockdowns hit.
I ended up losing the place I was going to move into, all of my hard earned friends moved away. I was able to hold onto my job, which for around seven months consisted of me travelling to and from an empty, freezing office and spoke to no one real and constitutes possibly the worst time of my entire life. Government actions rapidly deflated the value of my savings and put a fire under the already burning housing market. There are more parking spaces for rent than there are 1bed or studio flats in the city where I work. I cannot afford anything within 20 miles of where I live. It wasn't fucking like this pre-pandemic. Even if I engaged with the spook of "mental health", what would be the point? My life is materially worse in every conceivable way. My prospects are permanently damaged as a result of government action, cheered on by both strangers the system purports to be my "countrymen" and people close to me that I once respected, but now no longer.
Despite all of that, it is the cognitive dissonance that bothers me most. How can a person proclaim that a virus is deadly enough to ban recreational outdoor activity, but tolerate certain outdoor political protest? Why are tampons and clothes considered "inessential goods"? Why does going sledding outdoors in a country where snows once every 2 years make you a granny killer? I go back and read my old posts sometimes, and there was shit I got angry about then that I had apparently forgotten now. The most blackpilling thing about all of this is that indeed, just forgetting what was done to you and changing what you Care About in the way you change your clothes is most successful way to approach life. It amazes me that humanity has developed any capacity for individualist, introspective thought at all.
It probably does not help that I elected to read Nietzsche and Stirner at the same time during my aformentioned 7 months alone in that building. My "Good Morning, I hate _" could fill a book of its own.
More options
Context Copy link