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 -
This is part of the tragedy of the situation. It's easy to have such an impression, but knowing at least some of the details, it just seems like lives were needlessly ruined.
The problem with Kramnik's cheating allegations is that they are based entirely on his own subjective evaluation, and Danya is not the only one he has accused. His knowledge of statistics is farcically bad. His internal evaluation seems to be: at my peak was I better than them at classical, if yes then I should be destroying them in online blitz. The problem is that even though classical and online blitz are highly correlated, they do not have a correlation of 1. Blitz and classical are slightly different skill sets, and this is magnified online vs OTB. Imagine your boomer uncle trying to navigate a web-app with his worn out 20 year old Circuit City mouse and complaining the app is broken every time he miss-clicks. That's what it's like watching Kramnik playing online. For example, chess.com allows you to pre-move to minimize the time spent on your turn. Kramnik for some reason refuses to use this feature, then also complains that his opponents are moving with super-human speed. No your opponents are not cheating, you just don't understand how the platform works. Unfortunately, his accusations no matter how baseless come from the voice of a former World Champion. He could have been known as a great champion that helped train the next generation, instead he just looks like an angry old man who can't accept that he has declined and can't keep up anymore.
On the Danya side, the various rumors make it seem like an overdose was more likely than suicide. Either way, I don't think the incentives necessarily indicate cheating. While very good Danya didn't really make his living playing chess he made his living as a chess influencer. In particular, an influencer known for his wholesomeness. As that type of influencer your profession and self-identity revolve around how your are perceived. It seem from his last stream that despite the fact that many of the top chess names privately supported his innocence, and his fans remained loyal, the trolls were weighing heavily on him.
More options
Context Copy link