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 -
My sample size is biased by living in an area where people tend to move when they retire.
But the entire cruise industry, RV Industry, and the existence of Margaritaville resorts is upheld by the consumption spending of Boomers.
I've always thought medical expenses tend to be the biggest drain on the elderly, plus also strong cottage industries have erupted around scamming the elderly due to their status as easy targets holding a massive chunk of the capital.
Massive chunks of capital, diminished mental capacity, a poor grasp on how new technology works... and often a more trusting nature than average.
And they often have people in their lives who are capable of looking out for them, but the sheer volume of scam attempts means they likely cannot catch them all, and it only takes one or two to get through to do some real damage. And these are highly adapted organisms, your poor grandma isn't equipped to fight off the barrage.
Sad to say it, but when you have an overstuffed wealth PiƱata like the U.S. boomer class, everyone, even their loved ones, is licking their chops to crack it open and snag as much of it as they can.
And being more direct, the domestic political world, both sides of the ideological divide, is rife with this. The benign grifters who use ragebait to maintain an audience, and the more slimy types running nonprofits, PACs, and indeed running whole election campaigns solely designed to get elderly people to donate large sums of money on the vague idea that it would help achieve some nice-sounding political objective.
And that leaves aside the actual politicians already in office.
Trump has managed to tap into it to great success, but there are small scale imitators everywhere.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link