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 -
Another way to use planted CSAM material would be to "upgrade" charges. this guy was probably not going to prison for throwing off the search by claiming to be the shooter. He is probably going to prison now, though.
I figure this is a good time to chime in on it, since in this case the discussion does "my side" no good, and so has less of a chance of polluting the discussion. I don't like this guy, but this is an issue I've considered before and am rather worried about.
I have zero doubts that unscrupulous government actors would stoop to planting CSAM material.
However, I am also aware that it is shockingly common for defendants arrested for a routine, unremarkable crime to have CSAM on their phone when it is searched. I am skeptical that local police in my jurisdiction are planting this material. Such materials appear to be growing in popularity and greatly complicate defending a run of the mill drug possession charges, DUI, whatever.
Yeah, I'm not so worried about CSAM charges against random scumbags; I assume there's usually not a cop who wants to nail them bad enough to falsify evidence.
I'm more worried when it turns up in extremely-high-profile cases like this one. It seems like the cost-to-value ratio goes way, way up in a politically-charged case, and I have very little confidence that effective countermeasures are in place. I know basically nothing about police digital evidence procedure, but what I do know about general cybersecurity in large institutions does not fill me with confidence.
It further seems like the usual false evidence a beat cop would plant would be drugs.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link