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 -
They do it because it probably still works on the normies. I sometimes read the newspapers while waiting for takeout, and even the local right-wing rag had a piece on Lucy Connolly finally leaving prison. ICYMI, Lucy had the book thrown at her for writing and deleting an intemperate tweet in response to (I think) Axel Rudakubana's murder spree. The article studiously noted his country of birth and his British citizenship, while being noticeably silent about his ethnicity.
I was once told that it was the second- and third-generation children of migrants that are at greatest risk of radicalization. They form an idealized version of their home country because they didn't experience the things that made their parents or grandparents leave, and they don't yet fit in. When I was younger, I would sagely nod along and say "yes, yes, this is why we must provide more community resources to prevent radicalization" or whatever. Now I'm just baffled as to why, knowing this, we're still attempting to import infinity people.
1/ Blind faith in the belief that more immigration = economic growth (see the Boriswave)
2/ Any attempt to do something about it being frustrated by the NGO/Civil service/Human Rights Lawyer complex (see Rwanda)
3/ Any attempt to do something about it leading the people involved to be condemned as racist pariahs in the eyes of the rest of elite society
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link