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 -
I've seen variations of this path happen to people who are in the second layer of my orbit (i.e. usually not my CLOSE friends). At first it appears like the the varnish of a happy, complete life is simply peeled off to reveal the dysfunction beneath, but after seeing it often enough, it really turns out that they just wanted out of what could have been a complete, happy life, and they're basically bailing out of a situation that was otherwise quite tolerable.
Call it Trump Derangement syndrome or whatever, but I'd say its just Trump or the Conservative/Right Wing boogeyman acting as a nexus point for their internal turmoil and persistent sense of pending doom, it feels better to externalize all that negative emotion to an outgroup.
What is more unique now is how ubiquitous and all-consuming the fear-driving stimuli is. THAT part, being fully inundated in an information environment that exacerbates and amplifies thought processes that would otherwise possibly remain mere undercurrents is what leads so many to have these aggressive and apparently 'sudden' breaks from whatever friends and groups they had previously maintained.
I've watched the pattern unfold enough times now that I am confident I can recognize the earlier stages of it and predict with some accuracy where things will end up after a brief observation period.
If the woman is already at the point where she feels comfortable disrespecting the man in public view, and/or is falling in with some of the lefty activist causes, its likely terminal.
It goes towards a point I made a while back, though.
Scared, anxious people are easier to control. You create a population of neurotic, particularly fearful citizens and scream in their ear, nearly 24/7, through every media outlet possible, about how much danger they're in, and then you offer them the outlet for all that pent up anxiety: vote for [Candidate!] or [Policy!] and you can finally be safe!
Except it won't help, they cannot be mollified. But if the policy fails or is never implemented, they can continue to blame it all on the same boogeyman.
Thus, the incentive to fix or moderate this issue simply isn't there. Scared people are politically useful. All the more so if you isolate them from their sane, well-meaning friends and family.
More options
Context Copy link