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 -
Maybe it's because I'm an autist working in tech with fellow autists, but we absolutely complain about this crap to each other all the time (just not to the bosses directly). In fact one of my work buddies specifically makes TPS report jokes every time management gets after us about not tracking enough information in our ticketing system. The only thing we don't openly say (but all of us obviously imply/hint about) is the incompetence of our Indian coworkers.
I made a TPS report joke in a status meeting recently and my (Millennial) first line manager pointed out nobody got that reference any more. I told him it must be time for a remake.
We still fire off the ol' "What would you say...ya do here?" line pretty frequently around my office.
Actually, last time it happened, our zoomer new hire immediately got the reference and continued on with a "So you physically..." riff. So all is not lost.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Sounds pretty neurotypical to me.
More options
Context Copy link
Same. I've never worked with someone who actually liked all the corporate crap, and most people were openly skeptical of it. Nobody really pretends to care about quarterly earnings and the like, either.
Everyone I ever met who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton acted like "wake up and maximize value" true believers. Curiously enough, I recall they also had some sort of gamified employee leveling system not unlike the Federal Goverment's GS. People would gape and gossip about meeting or having lunch with a Level 5 or whatever it was BAH had going on. It drove me nuts.
The ones I know seem pretty normal. But they spend the vast majority of their time on site with clients, so that likely insulates them from the corporate culture.
More options
Context Copy link
Booz Allen definitely feels like the consultant who would exclusively recruit the people who wore 30 pieces of flair when the requirement was 10 in my limited interactions with them.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link