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 -
I think that's a fair description for the privacy concerns; I don't think it's accurate to describe those left outside as the "poor people struggling to survive" (note even the WEF page describes them as "discontents". More importantly, it's very obvious and overt that the "you will own nothing and be happy" isn't and very obviously isn't supposed to be part of the "significant problems" side.
That's be a far stronger position were there a few dozen 'no we don't want this and in fact want the opposite of this' arguments to point toward, rather than something that gets promoted under other terms for everything from air compressor to carpet tiles.
((And, uh, also if Auken or involved editors were shoved out of the organization in a giant high-confrontation mess over the matter.))
That would be a useful rejoinder, if still not within the limits of your original "some human interest stories by food blogs ", if it were just the NYT's food journalism section. Instead it's the Opinion section (complete with Learning Network study questionaire), a small section on cricket flour in Climate FWD, applauded by a comedian (?) giving relationship advice. And that's just one outlet.
Sure, it's all a bunch of people bringing up this stuff (or rewarding it when it comes from outside), and it being happily rubberstamped by layers of fact-checkers and editors), and no one bothering with any objections. Sure there's tons of random things like that.
And then there's a pretty wide variety of common things that don't, and it becomes noticeable.
Yes, people who care about things care about them. But that's going from 'it's not happening' to 'and it's good that it is' pretty quick.
Naraburns below linked to this piece with a smorgasboard of Western-specific focuses; the Times has lauded "the winner of the small space/tiny home competition sponsored by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development". For other examples on broader restrictions against conventional housing, see here for one that highlights an American local law!, natgeo about specifically average American home sizes.
They're just people interested in the matter! And it's not that aggressive yet. But they're just people interested in it here. The pretense that this is solely for the developing world (and parts of the UK no one likes) runs into some problems given that.
More options
Context Copy link