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 -
Most of this website understands that a) intelligence tests have predictive validity and b) that Ashkenazi Jews, as a group, have extremely high average intelligence. Given these two observations, one would expect the country with the most jews-per-capita, Israel, would have a tremendous amount of human capital. I would expect, knowing nothing else about the country, that industry there would thrive and the wages in that country should be among the highest in the world. But wages there aren't that high: the GDP per capita in Israel is broadly similar to an average European country like Belgium.
What could be the cause of this? Ashkenazi Jews make up around 2% of the US's population, but due to their high intelligence, worth ethic, and culture, have a large percentage of positions of power and prestige in the US. You would think that Israel, being 33% Ashkenazi Jewish, would have tremendous number of brilliant 130+ IQ middle-and-upper class, and I'd expect Israel to be a tremendous source of intellectual and economic might in the European region as a result (kind of similar to Singapore or Taiwan in Asia, but with even more economic and technological prowess).
What explains Israel's economic and technological mediocrity? The rest of Israel's demographics are largely Mizrahi Jews and Sephardic Jews, as well as 20% arabs. Mizrahi and Sephardic jews have around an IQ of 92-ish, whereas Arabs have an IQ around 80. Which means that, overall, the IQ for Israel is estimated to be around 92. But even still there are a lot of very bright people in Israel; it should really be a bigger economic powerhouse, but it isn't. Can anyone help me to understand why? Are international corporations just not leveraging these untapped intellectual resources properly? Or does the presence of some dumb people in your society prevent the 30% of the very-smart people from successfully starting businesses/reaching the level of international influence that they otherwise could?
tl;dr: Israel isn't a big economic superpower. Why?
Politics: small countries need big friends for investment, trade, etc., and Israel is politically radioactive over the Palestine issue. Moreover, because all of Israel's neighbors in the region either actively despise it or grudgingly strike cynical realpolitik deals with it, it can't operate as a regional trade, manufacturing, or services hub the way other powerful small countries do.
Natural Resources: i.e., Israel doesn't have really any, and doesn't have the oomph to secure it's own supply chain from neighbors. This includes very important things like energy and water.
Geostrategic Considerations: Singapore controls one of the most heavily-trafficked shipping lanes in the entire world, as well as having British colonial legal traditions and political relationships, Chinese-diaspora economic acumen, and access to the cheap labor and developing natural resources of most of South-East Asia right next door. Israel is in a backwater part of the Mediterranean, with access to the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa thrown in as booby-prizes.
Security: Israel obviously is not in a great neighborhood, security-wise, and is also involved in at least three cold wars (Iran, Palestine, Lebanon) which could turn hot any moment. Thus, it is not an attractive target for investments in expensive, complicated, easily-damaged industrial plant, and has to devote far more of its resources to defense than comparator nationstates.
Social Unrest: Israeli politics and society are actually strikingly fractious, and significant portions of Israel's population think that economic activity is at best a second-place good to studying Torah and Talmud. Worse, because of the state's ethnic and religious affiliation, such groups have solid claims on public support for their underperformance.
Etc., etc.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link