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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   25119 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 19, 2026

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Well, yes, what else can one do?

Refrain from judgement until you have sufficient information to reach a sound conclusion. If you can identify key variables that would radically change your conclusion, start there.

This is all the more important in an information environment known to be contested by people who want to shape your first impression and conclusions regardless of ultimate accuracy.

"Here's my impressions from the video, here's an important question it leaves unanswered, here's the sort of evidence that would change my mind" is perfectly reasonable and I have no idea why you seem determined to describe it so uncharitably.

Because the 'key evidence' in question isn't evidence to change a mind, but to justify the conclusion one way or another in the first place.

There is a term for making a conclusion before you have the evidence for it, and it is 'assuming the conclusion.' This is a bad practice because it triggers fallacies and psychological biases that lead people to interpret later information in ways that confirm the first judgement..

It's more thoughtfulness than you'll see from the vast majority of people on social media.

That is a bar low enough to trip over.

A few things

a) I didn't draw a conclusion, I posted a better snippet and compared it to the other shooting (Which legally speaking, seems pretty cut and dry like the Kyle Rittenhouse self defense situation).

b) "Don't talk about it until you have sufficient information to reach a conclusion" at best thought-terminating and at worst bad faith. You could indefinitely not talk about anything you choose forever, I'm not going to listen to people who tell me to not to think about and discuss things.

c) New information could come to light 5 or 10 (or 500) years from now, take the recent example we found out of the Chinese officer who refused to march on the Tiananmen protestors in the 1980s. I'll discuss with what current information I have and continue to update it as I get more information.

recent example we found out of the Chinese officer who refused to march on the Tiananmen protestors in the 1980s

Wait what recent examples?

I’m pretty sure it was well known that there were high ranking members of the military who were disapproving of the crackdown, from a letter co-signed by multiple generals to Xu Qinxian refusing to march into Beijing, or Xu Feng, or He Yanran etc.

b) "Don't talk about it until you have sufficient information to reach a conclusion" at best thought-terminating and at worst bad faith. You could indefinitely not talk about anything you choose forever, I'm not going to listen to people who tell me to not to think about and discuss things.

Fortunately I am not telling you to not think about or discuss things.

Your paraphrase is this-

"Don't talk about it until you have sufficient information to reach a conclusion"

And my position is this-

Refrain from judgement until you have sufficient information to reach a sound conclusion.

Do you recognize that the the later is not only not the former, but is itself a justification to talk and seek information to reach a sound conclusion?

c) New information could come to light 5 or 10 (or 500) years from now, take the recent example we found out of the Chinese officer who refused to march on the Tiananmen protestors in the 1980s. I'll discuss with what current information I have and continue to update it as I get more information.

Discussion was not what was being discouraged.

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