site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31664 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022

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.

9
Top Bottom New Old Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Given the SANCTITY OF GOF, you want literal Siberia. And hunting rifles and potatoes.

Hunting rifles? Might be hard to get your hands on one if you're an outsider.

If you're a Russian citizen, aren't they shall-issue ? Do they make special rule for people who have immigrated recently ?

Also, if you live in the ass-end of Siberian rural area, buying illegal weapons and keeping buried in the woods for those true emergencies is probably fairly low risk.

Citizebs need to own a shotgun license for five years before they can apply for a rifle license. Both require a background check and a psych evaluation. Non-citizens can bring their firearms with them from abroad for organized hunts, but can't buy firearms in Russia unless they promptly export them.

Rural Siberians own unlicensed rifles for poaching, but I doubt they will sell them to trad nutjobs.

Rural Siberians own unlicensed rifles for poaching, but I doubt they will sell them to trad nutjobs.

Would depend entirely on relationships. Also, money speaks. Trad nutjobs who generally wouldn't be seen and who treated the locals with respect, didn't make any trouble and had money from remote work might persuade e.g. some guy who aged out of poaching to sell weapons.

had money from remote work

Remote work? Doesn't sound very trad. And while fiber has been laid down in the most surprising places, these are still places along well-traveled roads. I was thinking of places that you need a boat or a helicopter to get to. Or at least these huge low-pressure tires.

It's a modern version of the ancient model where you grow your own food, but sell craft objects so you can purchase things you can't easily make for yourself.

In any case, most people are mentally flexible to understand you cannot maintain a reasonable standard of living without buying some things from the industrial society.

Hence, need for remote work.

I was thinking of places that you need a boat or a helicopter to get to. Or at least these huge low-pressure tires.

Satellite uplinks work in such places, no?

And who knows, maybe eventually Starlink will work in Russia, provided the traffic passes through state security servers for analysis.

I thought Russia was more or less shall issue for shotguns, but center fire rifles were only available after a trial period?

In any case, I highly doubt the rules are enforced as written.

They have a sort of 'shotgun' that balistically is close to a rifle or something like that. IIRc.

In any case, shotguns can be used up to 50m with the right ammo, which is enough for hunting in woods.

A somewhat tangential comment: to my understanding, yes, shotguns are easier to acquire than rifles for civilians--apparently to the point that even the Kalashnikov Concern makes what are essentially pistol-caliber carbines that are regulated as shotguns thanks to legal compliance shenanigans you normally only see in America.

Hard to say if even shotguns are easy to get for a hypothetical trad-cath transplant from Germany, though.

Are these guys tradcaths, though? I was under the impression they were more just general weirdos. And it's worth noting that the SSPX, at least, has explicitly stated they have no interest in trying to build a hypothetical society retreated from the modern world, so I doubt the tradcaths in general are going to move to Russia en masse to try to escape the decadent west.

I know it's kind of tangential to the broader point, obviously.

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