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 -
Yes, change starts with oneself. And you're right that I was really hoping for some deep analysis of why Greenland, is it possible, are these the right moves, how does it fit in the context of Venezuela and beyond, what are the psychological, political, historical, sociological, emotional, cultural implications etc. It is exactly the feeling that the Trump modeling is so calcified in the discussion that as @gattsuru mentioned that "there's not much to discuss" anymore and I'm like sitting here wondering "what am I missing that everyone else seems to get".
Currently the president is repeatedly confusing Greenland with Iceland while the White House press secretary blatantly lies about it.
The lying actually bothers me a lot more than the word mixup; smart people who are surrounded with such levels of sycophancy are basically detaching from reality. If this kind of mistake can't even be admitted, how can more serious mistakes be corrected? The answer to "why Greenland" may be as simple as the answer to "why does the speaker start shrieking when you point its own microphone at it": because in a systems analysis sense, excessive positive feedback can lead to insane outputs.
Yes, I fear that's a likely explanation.
Oh. Well, yeah, that too, but with better reason and less-adverse consequences.
He didn't confuse Iceland and Greenland. Why do you hate America?
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link