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 -
Some thoughts as I watch Twitter in the new Elon era...
The $8 blue check is quite an experiment. It could allow Elon to monetize a significant-enough portion of Twitter's 450M monthly active users to be great for business. It also might make trolls & bots impractical & expensive in many cases.
As for the culture war, allowing anyone to be a verified blue check has some very interesting consequences. (Currently, by clicking on the check, users can see who received it for being a "notable person" vs. who received the check for paying $8. This feature seems problematic towards Elon's stated goal of eliminating the class differences on Twitter between the blue check royalty & the checkless plebs, and I speculate it may be removed. And this is where the real classless state could begin.)
Watching those who'd "earned" their blue checks wince and whine is pretty telling. The blue check on Twitter means a lot to many people. I understand it has monetary value for many; beyond that though, I'm seeing a lot of folks try to cope out loud (in various ways) with the loss of their identity.
In the context of why it's problematic to award blue checks for "worthy-ness" to some media & not others, Elon made some comments yesterday about how we've all had the experience of reading something in the media about a subject we just happen to know a lot about, and how the story so often gets most of it wrong, and doesn't grasp any of the important nuance. This resonated a lot with me.
As much as I despise Trump, for me, the enduring piece of his legacy will be the slogan "fake news," and how I've come to change my view of media in the last 6-7 years. While I think Trump is a liar, I now accept much of the media are liars too, bound to ideologies, political interests, personal animus, shareholders.
What is the actual reason I ought to trust one media members' view over some other persons'? What merit do they offer & how can they demonstrate it? By working for a "media organization" with stated "guidelines for journalism"?
Does Joy Reed get to be a Trusted Media Member of Merit™? After unleashing daily/weekly editorial sermons on how much she hates Donald Trump for years? And does Jesse Watters's view on anything deserve increased attention? Certainly if one deserves a platform, so too does the other, right?
Attempts to verify journalistic merit seem problematic, especially in the realm of politics, where values & preferences are at issue. Why not allow The Everyman to be verified and join the conversation as an equal?
What will become of Twitter in 12 months? Will it grow/shrink a lot/a little in popularity? Will it be transformed in some fundamental way? Can it become something very special—The Open & Honest Marketplace/Battleground of Ideas?
I still don't understand, what is the point of the blue checkmark in new Twitter? When I first heard about the $8 charge I thought it'd be a good idea. I thought it'd be a way for anyone to pay $8 for the service Twitter will perform to verify that you are who you say you are. I thought basically, you'd pay the $8, Twitter would assign someone to review your credentials, then you'd get the checkmark. This seemed like an improvement over the previous process because anyone could request a checkmark review as part of an after upon process, and you're also helping to fund the work out will take to do it
Now I see on Twitter's site, it says explicitly:
If the point of verification and checkmarks are to prove that you are who you say you are, and now that verification process and proof no longer will happen, then what's the point? To prove that you have $8 to spend? Are people supposed to believe that accounts that get the new blue checkmark are authentic, when no verification actually happened? It's so confusing.
Please correct me if any aspect of my understanding is incorrect. If the new system really does make sense, I'd be glad and would like to know why.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link