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 -
The Somali-associated government fraud is bad. To steel man, set aside the Feeding Our Future and housing stabilization fraud schemes, and focus just on the autism assistance scheme. Compliant doctors were found to diagnose Somali-American children at a rate three times that of other Minnesotan children, multiple fake LLCs were set up to assist lower income parents with their supposedly-autistic children, and these LLCs paid kickbacks to the parents out of the state and federal funds they were getting and pocketing. In what is much more of an indictment of the Somali-American community in Minnesota than particular fraudsters who are Somali-American behind the other schemes, in the autism assistance fraud, numerous families where shopping among the LLC fronts based on how large of a kickback they were offered by each, and switching between them. This in particular is widespread corruption within the community.
But also to steel man, the original report cited by the NY Post doesn’t fully make the case in the way Rufo frames it for maximum offense. It didn’t actually track any specific funds. And cites only retired feds. It just notes there was massive fraud, and remittances going on at the same time. And as /u/DradisPing points out below, Somali is so fucked up, and its civil war run through family/clan ties, that Al-Shabaab is going to get a taste of pretty much any money than reaches those clans sympathetic their half of the civil war. And as /u/hydroacetylene added, the other half of the civil war is probably, also.
More options
Context Copy link