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 -
No, of course not. That sounds super weird to me, why would one knowingly subject oneself to pain? I heard legends of people doing stuff like playing bloody knuckles or sack tap, but never have known anyone personally who did that.
IDK if it's age, or peer group, or what, but inflicting pain on each other for teh lulz was a definite part of my childhood and adolescent experience. Bloody knuckles, hot hands, "Indian" burns, and the like were all a part of my experience as a child. And by the time I was a Senior in HS, I had friends that would literally sneak up behind another unsuspecting friend, reach between the legs of the target, grab the target's scrotum and yank it backwards while pushing the target forward and down with their other hand, and then laugh like hell at the results. No one was safe! For bonus points, one of these friends managed to pull of a newly-invented variant of this on me at work just as the CEO walked in, which was funny to me both then and now.
More options
Context Copy link
no you sound weird, haha. Is your background hyper-liberal urbanite or something? Mine is middle class liberal, small town in western europe.
There's this quip that modern college kids' main problem is that they have never been hit in the face. Although I grant that it does sound pretty stupid to punch each other for seemingly no good reason.
Testing your limits, overcoming obstacles, preparing yourself for future fights and challenges, I guess. And in the moment there's the thrill in knowing the stakes are higher than usual. You can play a game for a pack of chewing gum, but it feels more important to play for the right to not get punched.
Exactly the opposite. I grew up on a dairy farm, lol.
I would agree insofar as the kids' problem is that they have never faced adversity. I don't think that being punched in the face is uniquely valuable as a teaching lesson, though. You can learn how to overcome adversity from any number of experiences. And punching each other for fun is, as you said, very stupid.
I didn't say it was stupid. It's no different than doing judo or boxing.
I mean, look at your position ITT. Because you lack this formative experience of pain, you find the pain of labour to be unbearable, so you think it cannot be expected of anyone, thereby.... dooming humanity to extinction. No big deal, but in case you think saving humanity is valuable, then I recommend a punch in the face.
That isn't true at all. It's significantly different! Doing boxing or judo, the goal is to not get hit. Even if you fail sometimes and do get hit, in principle you can get better and avoid that outcome more often than not. Moreover, the fun in those things comes from the contest of skill, not... some weird form of masochism where you let people hit you in the face for fun. So no, those are not at all the same thing.
You have extrapolated way too much from my post. All I said is that men wouldn't choose to get hit in the balls to have a child. Nobody said anything about the extinction of the species, nor did I say anything about the pain of labor.
I was exaggerating for comic effect. I just think you’re very very wrong on men’s willingness to get kicked in the balls for their children.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
We used to play a variant of conkers, where when your conker got broken you had to let your opponent take a swing at your knuckles, that used to hurt like hell.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link