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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 6, 2025

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For one, I don't see why you need any of that evidence. Optics aren't even about truth, it's OPTICS. I'm not taking a stance on if ICE is too cruel, or if the pro/anti ICE narrative is more true I'm saying that ICE's optics as an organization are not good. As in, ICE looks bad to many Americans.

The optics suck, you can tell they suck because they're terrible. You can tell they suck because people are shooting at ICE officers. You can tell they suck because city mayor's think they'll score political points by making it hard for ICE agents to do their jobs.

You can tell the optics suck because the economist shows his approval on immigration is down to -10% now versus +10% in January. Nate Silver shows him going from ~+9% to -4% with now (just) over 50% disapproval.

This was an incredibly popular electoral issue. He crushed the election on it. Now he's underwater on it. I wonder why???

  • -10

For one, I don't see why you need any of that evidence.

When people tell me it exists, I like taking a look.

The optics suck, you can tell they suck because they're terrible. You can tell they suck because people are shooting at ICE officers.

If you get shot, does it mean your optics suck, or does it maybe say more about the person doing the shooting?

This was an incredibly popular electoral issue. He crushed the election on it. Now he's underwater on it. I wonder why???

Polls generally are a lame argument, and I'm even more puzzled about why you think the names of The Economist and Nate Silver specifically should carry any weight with me.

By the way, did you just type out the same 2-3 paragraphs in 3 different comments? Are you ok?

Polls are a lame argument when talking about public opinion and optics???

If you don't accept polls with evidence to the contrary of your views, and you don't accept arguments about shootings increasing being a sign of public opinion, then what evidence do you accept?

When people tell me it exists, I like taking a look.

I guess I'm just not sure how to define or quantify a fuzzy object like "optics" which by nature is opinion based, without pointing at measures of people's opinions.

Also on a real human level, they're just obviously bad? Partisanship aside can we not agree that dudes in face coverings abducting people and sending some of them to 3rd world prisons run by dictators is really fucking off-putting?

To be honest, I actually feel like you're being willfully ignorant here. When people in this thread say "Optics" they obviously mean "the public perception or appearance of an action, decision, or policy. How it looks rather than what it is."

Perception is everything here, and polls measure perception/opinion.

Why are polls a lame argument?

The Economist is generally regarded as a reliable source, and Nate Silver is a very talented pollster, so it is highly likely these pills are a real indication of how the American people feel. If you have a different hypothesis as to how the American people feel, you should present it.

By the way, did you just type out the same 2-3 paragraphs in 3 different comments? Are you ok?

I'm pretty sure I'm responding to 3 different people, so I wanted to make sure they all saw the stats that back my hypothesis. Copy and pasted so it was pretty easy, but I appreciate you checking.