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 -
This is an incredible assertion with little evidence supporting it. As far as I have seen Fuentes occupies the space of fairly ineffective troll. The man who one would consider to be his most obvious right leaning nemesis-Ben Shapiro, wields far more influence and power than he does, and the gap is not narrowing, Daily Wire is basically Fox News of 2000, but for today, and more. And they just ejected Candace Owens like dehydrated feces on a lunar flight without losing audience at all, in fact, most evidence shows them up post-Owens. Daily Wire has produced multiple popular podcasts, feature length movies and documentaries (some which would have shifted the culture significantly), and launched various brands that people seem to buy as luxuries.
OTOH, Nick Fuentes has done none of that, and survives mostly on the energy of people freaked out about him. If you are on the left or Left-adjacent Grey grey like Hanania, you might think this sort of freak out is what defines Trump. But that isn't true at all. What defines Trump is how much people actually like him. He's popular and cool. His base loves him. He is occasionally based, but really, is mostly moderate with vigor. His whole 2nd term has been him taking on a bunch of issues that Americans overwhelmingly support him on (often at 90/10, 80/20 numbers) and just saying loudly "lets do what the majority thinks is good" and then getting yelled at by the minority who happen to also hold positions of power in the media/DNC. Fuentes can kinda do the media freakout part, but he has none of the base appeal part, and, crucially, none of the picking good issues part.
More options
Context Copy link