site banner
PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   15031 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 25, 2025

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.

4
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

This just sounds like a fun afternoon for me and the pals when I was a kid. What kind of statist nonsense is this, that you want to deprive kids of the right to yell and wave harmless "weapons"?

A cursory perusal of my output on this website will reveal that I’m a pretty hardcore statist. Kids should be doing way better things with their time than bothering productive adults in public, acting like shit-heads, and that means somebody is going to need to make them.

Adults doing productive things like filming little girls who ask them to go away?

FWIW, and knowing not whether anything about this incident is remotely as it seems to anyone, I can absolutely imagine a scenario in which a perfectly well-adjusted adult films little girls doing stupid shit in order to gather evidence of their misbehavior to present to their parents or to the police. The adult in question repeatedly demanding "Show the knife!" would fit in with that.

I can't even imagine how I would explain having a video of little girls on my phone, let alone recording it, not even to the police, not even if they mugged me, so maybe I'm typical minding my misogyny.

I should have gone with my real objection, which was something like "how do you define statism if modern Britain doesn't count? Do they have to go full on nineteen eighty-four?"

I can't even imagine how I would explain having a video of little girls on my phone, let alone recording it, not even to the police, not even if they mugged me, so maybe I'm typical minding my misogyny.

"Officer, these kids were waving around what looked like sharp weapons, and threatening me directly. I don't want to have to kick them in the face, so can you please make them stop this bullshit?"

I should have gone with my real objection, which was something like "how do you define statism if modern Britain doesn't count? Do they have to go full on nineteen eighty-four?"

Who ever said Britain was not statist?

Hell, which state on Earth isn't statist?

"Officer, these kids were waving around what looked like sharp weapons, and threatening me directly. I don't want to have to kick them in the face, so can you please make them stop this bullshit?"

Have you been to the planet Earth? Is he sending this through to 911 via telepathy, or somehow this police officer is standing near enough to watch the video and yet not already intervening?

I dunno, if my interactions with police are anything to go by: You call them, they come by, you explain the situation and show them your footage, and then they nod gravely and tell you that unfortunately nothing can be done but hopefully you're insured, have a nice day.

Edit: And to clarify, I meant "stop this bullshit" as in "prevent them from repeating it".

I mean this is why I wouldn't film an incident like this since it feels like the percentage of it prompting a stabby escalation is greater than the police accomplishing anything

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