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'm just gonna register that I think everyone who is following this story should watch a random sample of police bodycam videos. Try Midwest Safety on Youtube. It may not change your view, but it will probably change your perception, because there appear to be many commonalities across a broad spectrum of situations.
Looked at the channel and one of their most popular videos seems to demonstrate the point quite well: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5FMtL7saNKE?si=5-UEv0w-P9KmYvtH
A woman's boyfriend gets mad at her for stripping and when the police intervene the man just absolutely refuses to be chill about it. Winds up needing to be manhandled quite severely. Dragging him into the police car without dislocating his shoulder was tough.
The woman being unable to enter the club legally under the age of 21 and therefore quickly signing up as a stripper in order to get in is a pretty insane sequence of events, I've got to say.
It's weird but it's a quirk based off of the strip club being a bar. It's state by state but it's not uncommon for employees to be allowed to be under 21. Beyond that there's the even more common carveout for "performers"; granted the law makers probably had musicians in mind.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I'm actually a paying subscriber to that channel. And one other. A dollar a month. Beats a Substack subscription on cost.
But it's a low status thing to admit to watching (much less paying for), even as it gives you a more realistic view as to what police are dealing with, at least relative to getting your information from scripted dramas and non-profit org stats and prog talking points. My more educated, higher income left-leaning friends will watch every last show on Apple TV before they waste their time on that "crime porn."
More options
Context Copy link
My friend calls it "exhibiting getting shot behavior", and it's remarkable how bad it is. There's definitely a selection effect because boring stops don't get posted. You've got your freak atrocity's like Daniel Shaver and Philando Castile (granted I've seen people claim they just needed to follow orders as well) but most of the time these people can just not sit still. Or like this guy "Let me reach deep into every pocket" while the cop has his gun drawn on me.
That's a crazy video. I can't believe that the cop kept his finger off the trigger (either for the taser or the pistol). I know all about trigger discipline, but I'm shocked that police would keep their finger off the trigger when a potentially armed suspect is digging through their pants like that. The extra couple hundred milliseconds to move the finger into the trigger guard could really make a difference.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link