site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026

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.

Keep in mind that every time someone smokes weed in the United States, they are still engaging in an illegal act (yes, it’s legal in many states, but still illegal at the federal level). Every time one goes over 55 (or 65, or as much as 80) on the freeway, they are engaging in an illegal act.

There are a lot of things people do in their day to day lives which are illegal, but enforcement is selective.

For years, decades, we have allowed “illegals” to come here, we have allowed them to work here, heck big portions of our economy depend on their “illegal” labor (let me tell you, house maintenance has been a lot cheaper for me because I’m English-Spanish bilingual). It’s something we have permitted because it has benefited us as a nation.

Trump coming down this hard in “illegals” is unprecedented, and while there is a lot I dislike about the Blue Tribe, I can see why they’re so up in arms about ICE’s raids.

Every time one goes over 55 (or 65, or as much as 80) on the freeway, they are engaging in an illegal act.

Yes, and if the National Motorists Association set up teams to impede the police from catching speeders, they'd be arrested and jailed and get no support.

Do you think people flashing their high beams to warn about speed traps should be arrested and jailed?

Fined, probably. Arrested, if they start blocking traffic. Sure, why not?

I agree that there are many laws that are wrong, should change, and even that it's proper and moral to break and improper and immoral to support or enforce. However, there is no meaningful dispute whether or not the law is in fact being broken. I personally disagree that immigration law is in this morally illegitimate category of law, and I certainly think it's unwise to break regardless of the morality of the matter. Any of these people could have been deported at any time, even if they were statistically less likely to be under a politically different administration. That's the whole reason that evil scumbags like doing business with them, because they've all got a massive blackmail threat hanging over their heads.