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 -
If this is true, then why did Nietzsche blame the jews for wokism in the 1800s?
He blames the jews for the reversal of moral values. "Might makes right" is now entirely alien to us. All modern virtue has become the opposite of that which, biologically, leads to health. The victim mentality has become a social strategy. People now compete in who can make themselves out to be the most oppressed, and this behaviour is rewarded. There's no participation trophies because we no longer have the heart to say that somebody won, and to them imply that somebody else must have lost. If somebody is offended by words, we no longer feel disgust at the offended party (as we used to!), but instead blame the stronger party, the person who doesn't suffer from mental breakdowns due to mere words. This reversal, which attributes the highest value to the low and meek, is "wokeness". When Nietzsche criticizes morality in "The will to power", and in "The geneology of morals" which I'm quoting below, it sounds like a modern critique of the feminine values which have taken over society.
"Let’s bow to the facts: the people have won – or “the slaves”, the “plebeians”, “the herd”, or whatever you want to call them – if the Jews made this come about, good for them! No people ever had a more world-historic mission.“The Masters” are deposed; the morality of the common people has triumphed. You might take this victory for blood-poisoning (it did mix the races up) – I do not deny it; but undoubtedly this intoxication has succeeded.The “salvation” of the human race (I mean, from “the Masters”) is well on course; everything is being made appreciably Jewish, Christian or plebeian (never mind the words!)"
We domesticated ourselves too much, and now we, like dogs, have something like Williams syndrome. Most of our "barbaric" traits have been pruned from the gene pool, but as a result, strong men are lacking, masculinity is lacking. And the jews helped bring this about, even if a development like this was inevitable.
More options
Context Copy link