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 -
On one side, young people with cute frog hats are not fond of Israel. How sad.
On other side, Israel just demolished city of two million, reduced neighboring countries to wrecks, terminates anyone it wants , whether by bombing or targeted killings, and no one in the region can do anything about it. You do not have to love Israel to admit that it is on the roll and it is not going to stop.
Things could change when American boomers raised on Hollywood biblical epics and Scofield bible start dying off in earnest, but this is at least decade away.
When Iran fires missiles at Israel, there's a frantic military effort by the US and UK to defend Israel. US warships in the Persian Gulf and Med firing interceptors, US aircraft providing air defence, US bombers targeting Iran, US satellites and enablers helping Israel.
Israel is not fighting and could not fight this war alone. They've been heavily dependent on US munitions the whole time even for their 'blowing up Gaza' operation, let alone more advanced missile defence. Where are the 2000 pound bombs coming from? American arsenals. They got $20 billion in military aid/assistance in just the first year after October 7th.
More options
Context Copy link
Israel is dropping in popularity among young people left and right.
Israel is deeply unpopular in much of the world and increasingly becoming less popular.
If winning a war was measured in dropped bombs, Vietnam would be American and Northern Ireland would be Irish.
More options
Context Copy link
Is support for Israel actually reliant on dispensationalists? Hell, is it even tied to Boomers?
On the rare occasion that I encounter such a discussion at work, it’s more likely to be the last one. It’s not like there’s any shortage of Christians here in Texas. But we also fought enough wars in the Middle East to give a ton of non-Boomers an excuse to support Israel. Pro-Palestine protests only confirm that bias.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link