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 -
Tattoos are a way of giving a piece of your body, permanently to a tattooist. He is literally branding your body, and it is permanent.
This is a disgusting form of submissive behavior.
Granted there are situations where a tattoo is designed by the recipient and the “artist” is passive, but those are rare.
To make this point: NONE of the art that tattooist brand their donors with would be in any way notable or memorable if it was simply put to canvas. The “art” is the act of convincing somebody to donate their body to this. It’s notable because “I have permanently disfigured my body with this”, but that’s the only reason why. It’s also why tattoos have gone through a progression from a simple bicep tattoo, to full sleeves, chest plates for women, face tattoos, and in the most “interesting” cases, a full blackout of the donors body parts.
Go to a tattoo convention and you won’t see small artistic things (if you could call them that) getting attention or notoriety, you’ll see the treadmill increasingly self destructive things. It’s why tattooism is adjacent to other “body mod”/mutilation cultures, and the further into tattoos you go, the more you converge with the mutilation side.
(To be clear, I have tattoos, I don’t regret them, they are my own design. I just recognize this behavior for what it is)
Surely that all depends on your perspective, doesn't it!
I would never get one myself, ever. But I don't judge other people for getting them. The correlation with criminality seems rather low given how popular they are these days.
More options
Context Copy link
that is going to select for people with tattoo obsession/fascination
wait, people are getting tattooed without selecting what they will get?
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link