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 -
Specifically, anti-regime violence.
The demand for murder of [not men] vastly exceeds its supply- this is why it has to be overestimated and/or overstated. Compare "femicide" for the more general case.
One of the most fun culture war games to play is always that most men:women statistics about bad things have similar counterparts with black people:white people, and with those each tribe's inclinations to downplay or exaggerate are flipped.
More options
Context Copy link
I noticed something peculiar this evening. In the coming weeks there's meant to be a protest against what's euphemistically called "gender-based violence", and there have been posters dotted around the city advertising the protest in question. Curiously, the posters are bilingual, half of them solely in English and the other half solely in Spanish (even though I'd hazard a guess there are more Portuguese speakers in Dublin than Spanish). The English-language posters refer to a protest against "gender-based violence", whereas the Spanish-language posters don't beat around the bush and refer to a protest against "violence against women".
I guess Spanish-speaking feminists haven't totally ceded all territory to the Ts.
More specifically domestic violence is a known problem in Hispanic cultures(which I was unaware of being a significant enough presence in Ireland to need a specific address towards). If you're wondering why close to half of US Latinas marry white men, this is the reason(well, one of the bigger ones).
It looks like the outmarrying rate of latinas is about 28% in total, so well less than half marry white men.
So they say. It also Just So Happens that white men are taller and richer.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
The most incredible example of this I've encountered is "The Part About the Crimes" in 2666, which details the murders of many Mexican women. It works to establish that this is an especially heinous set of killings that target women. Of course, it turns out that the murder rate in Juarez is astronomical, but it's not "androcide" when hordes of men are killed, that's just drug-related violence.
In fairness, killings of women are way less likely to be a mutual combat where the victim could have as easily been the murderer had events gone differently.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link