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 -
Most media prioritize local first instead of hypothetical deep pocketed foreign markets. Its just the math of cultural familiarity and limited upside from investing in the tastes of foreigners: hollywood tried selling pro China stuff to break into the market and for that we got Pacific Rim Uprising, which lost domestic gross for negligible xibucks, just like Iron Man 3 or Transformers 3 failing to capture mainlanders with the power of supplicating. Similarly China or Japan also prioritize local markets first. Only Korean Hallyu really committed money to the attempt and it just helps that Koreans are already shamelessly shallow so everyone they promote is already good looking, unlike Japs who have the weird crooked teeth for their idols and weird 80s hairstyle for the guys.
Frequent failures at breaking to overseas markets is hardly unique to China, it just is thermostatically relevant because China is relevant. Organic niche successes lack state push, so they escape notice.
Though since you're mostly westerners here, I'll leave one weird tidbit for you: there is one specific niche that was being pushed state level, and to roaring success until about a month ago (maybe). The Thai Culture Ministry has been very lax with who they disburse funds to, and some money ended up flowing to Boy Love dramas, with little state invervention against this unexpected success. It is HUGE in womens circles that were starved for prettyboys eyefucking each other after China cracked down on danmsi few years ago, and I'm sure western women watch it in large but hidden numbers. The only reason asian prettyboy rotting of womens minds may be halted is because Heated Rivalry exists.
More options
Context Copy link