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 -
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democrats-want-reach-young-male-voters-how-get-them-is-up-debate-2025-10-06/
Reports like these have been an almost weekly occurrence all year. To state the obvious that none of these articles include: The Democratic Party and liberals engage in bulverism and bulverism alienates people. But is the problem purely liberals alienating young men or are conservatives also successfully courting them?
Seeing the many replies downthread, I'm reminded of two video clips I saw on Youtube sometime back.
One was one of several "highlight reel" compilations of Nov. 2024 election night coverage by various left-wing outlets (watching them go from confidence to doubt to cope to crashing out is hilarious), this one an all-black online show. At one point, the low performance of Dems with young men comes up, and one of the older women points out "Well, what do we have to offer them, except increased economic opportunity for everyone who isn't them?" (IIRC, the response was a half-hearted 'well, the other side is so evil we shouldn't have to earn anyone's vote'-type argument.)
The other was a short clip Shoe0nHead played from a left-wing Youtuber. This was a skinny, very gay young white man, and he was stumbling over his words trying to assert, in the most unobtrusive way possible, that there's actually something to the "male loneliness epidemic" — at one point he says "I'm trying to think of how to say this so my own side won't murder me" — and then his female guest (it might have been Taylor Lorenz) responds with "Well, the whole problem with the 'male loneliness epidemic' [eyeroll] idea is that it's an idea that centers men and men's problems."
(I also recall other lefty streamers making post-election comments about how, if you're a straight white male, that yes, the Left hates you; yes, Dem policies probably hurt you; yes, you'll probably do better with Trump in office than you would with Harris… but none of that matters, you have to vote D anyway. The Left don't have to earn your vote, they don't have to do anything for you — they are the Good Guys, and thus entitled to your vote. You have a moral duty to 'vote blue, no matter who.' When people aren't voting for the Democrats, that's not the fault of the party, it's the fault of the electorate; the party doesn't need to change, the voters do.)
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link