site banner
PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   37373 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025

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.

5
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

There is no reason why my tax dollars should be spent on anything in Africa. Not medicine, not food, not anything.

Cut them off. This is not crude, it's deliberate. Cut everything off, the useful stuff will bubble back up eventually.

Do you want drug resistant tuberculosis? Because that's how you get drug resistant tuberculosis.

Wouldn't flood Africa with drugs be what causes drug resistance? How does cutting them off cause it?

I reject your fearmongering. I don't think you know that, and I'm not willing to trust you. I'm unwilling to be manipulated by these kinds of arguments, and I do view them as manipulations instead of true arguments.

There an entire ocean between DC and Africa, and an entire continent between me and DC. I do not want my tax dollars being burned up so an illiterate farmer in Mali can get tuberculosis treatment. I do not want to supplement the birthrate of Africa through medicine and food while they can't even keep their own populations under control, and instead they spill over into Europe, and try to reach America. I do not want the sweat of my brow to clothe another man, to keep another man's wife, to feed another man's children.

Even if you were right, I would take drug resistant tuberculosis if it meant funding the government with tariffs instead of income taxes. You underestimate what I am willing to accept in order to end the unacceptable.

Even if you were right, I would take drug resistant tuberculosis if it meant funding the government with tariffs instead of income taxes. You underestimate what I am willing to accept in order to end the unacceptable.

Why do you have so great a desire for the government to be funded by tariffs, instead of income taxes?

Because income taxes take money from productive people because they are productive. That is wrong and it kills growth more than anything else, including tariffs.

Tariffs, on the other hand, take money from people sending money abroad. This makes it more expensive to import and give domestic producers protection from foreigners.

You tax what you want less of. I don't want less income. I want less imports.

I want less imports.

Why?

Because when you import something, you are sending value produced inside the country, outside to country, in exchange for those goods. When you buy things produced inside the country, all the increased value stays inside the country.

Maybe some countries, due to geography or circumstance, are required to live this way. Not the USA. We can and should be wholly self-sufficient right here on this continent.

Why is China so much wealthier today than fifty years ago? Because we sent them money in exchange for value-added goods. Now they are much wealthier, and we are much poorer in real terms (gold).

Do you think trade is zero-sum? What does "real terms (gold)" mean?

More comments

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats