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 do not think Vance is being discarded so much as he is serving a very specific role. He is the Sargent Major of Trump's officer corps. IE the "top-kick", the guy who's job it is to get in people's faces and say the things you can't say for reasons of diplomacy.
His altercations with Zelensky and Scholz, along with his statements in the wake of Charlie Kirk's killing were all representative of this.
Yeah, one of complaints about how difficult it was to run the Harris campaign is that the VP isn't supposed to do much of anything on their own (and she complained a lot about being kept out of things by Biden/Biden's side of the White House) so there weren't any Big Achievements they could point to as "elect her for more like this" (and so in part why she couldn't cut herself completely free of what Biden had done, because then it would be "so what did you do?" "uh, nothing, I was never Border Czar, that's a dirty falsehood!"). Then in her own book she was making it very clear that a VP was supposed to stay in the background and be supportive, hence why Shapiro's ambition disqualified him.
It's a bit like being the heir to the throne, as we saw with the decades Charles was waiting; you can't really do anything of your own since your job is "take over if something happens to the main person" and if you do try anything it reflects on the main person, so you have to stand around twiddling your thumbs and trying to find for yourself something small-scale enough that it won't be seen as infringing on the main job but interesting/useful enough that it's worth doing it.
More options
Context Copy link
Hasn't this been the primary role of the VP historically? To be the president's attack dog and to commit "gaffes" that are actually trial balloons in disguise? He's supposed to be the bad cop in the duo.
It's varied for different President and VP pairs this is absolutely the dynamic for Trump and Vance. @DirtyWaterHotDog sees that Vance isn't going to Davos and assumes that he must be getting shunned for having a brown wife. It doesn't occur to him to ask where Vance is going because he already has a conclusion that flatters his sensibilities.
Meanwhile Vance is off to Minnesota to shake hands with Law-Enforcement officers, wave the flag for the red team, and serve a subpoena to Mayor Frey. Simple fact is that the World Economic Forum is a side show as far as most Americans are concerned.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link