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 -
Thing is, is anyone surprised pharma companies and the regulators have a cosy relationship? We have to remember this is Covid, the push was on to get vaccines, and the usual slow process of having them approved was junked in the name of speed and getting herd immunity. "We made a ton of money out of this" - again, not surprising. Everyone made a ton of money during the worst of the pandemic, see all the tech layoffs now once the lockdown finished and people aren't doing everything online, so all the surplus hiring during the fat times is being trimmed away.
It's not a good look for Pfizer, but I think the most that will come out of it is this guy being handed his marching papers. Project Veritas is dodgy enough (it's on shaky ground even with people like me broadly sympathetic to what they're trying to do, because of fairly credible allegations of set-ups and editing video to take things out of context) and it's absolutely hated by liberals and the media because it goes after their sacred cows, so in the end this will be brushed aside as "just some far-right attempt at a smear of racial and sexual minorities" (based on the target being gay and black).
Between this and the twitter files, that the narrative has moved from "it's not happening" to "it happened, so what" is infuriating.
But moreover, what isn't happening right now that will later have happened and be a good thing actually? One has to wonder.
More options
Context Copy link
People often complain that right-wing media doesn't do journalism themselves, they just glean from the mainstream media. Well, Project Veritas is right-wing investigative journalism. The only reason it has the reputation it does is that it successfully skewered a left-wing sacred cow (ACORN). They do set people up, but that's part of that kind of journalism. I think in recent years they've been releasing full unedited videos a short while after in order to dispute claims of deceptive editing.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link