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 -
I haven't read much of the Bible myself, only seen and heard excerpts.
But the Pharisees were performative purity spiralers who tried to cancel Jesus. They followed the letter of the law and not the spirit of it. When Jesus went to heal a sick man on the Sabbath, they wanted to get him for this, because he 'worked on the day of rest'. They were all about strict external conformity rather than the individual inner journey towards divinity.
They showed no mercy towards the unclean or rule-breakers, while Jesus did, such as eating with prostittues, tax-collectors, sinners.
They had Jesus marked as an enemy and tried to trip him up with impossible questions that would make him unpopular, like whether Roman taxation was right or not, which if you say yes you get the Jewish nationalists against you and if you say no you are guilty of sedition, so Jesus just said renter unto Caesaer that which is Caesar's and render unto God that which is God's.
Jesus said to them: You create your "whitewashed tombs", beautiful outside but filled with dead bones on the inside.
Simply criticizing the powerful or standing up for the weak is not what's wrong with wokeism. Far from it. That's not even what they really do.
I wouldn't call that "woke" in the way the word is normally used.
I wouldn't call that "woke" in the way the word is normally used.
Agreed. But doing so in a manner that is unfair, dishonest, and performative -- that's the very essence of wokism. The wokie claims to be "punching up" as he slanders and abuses his victims.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link