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 have no idea what fantasy you have right now but tech is woke as af. I was there.
Employees who get uppity and threaten profits are obviously beaten down or fired, but for everything else, maximum woke it is.
Tech LABOR is woke, tech OWNERSHIP is chud.
The people who use their big brains to do stuff are disproportionately woke across the population; the people that use their big bank accounts to run shit are disproportionately chud across the population.
You are observing the interpersonal relations of the prole class, not the economic motivations of the owning class.
More options
Context Copy link
I think it's a specific kind of woke. Flattening it is a huge mistake.
Of course you can't have tech without the autistic MtFs and the ACE chicks, and so there's a very predictable LGBT contingent. And the companies are all extremely woke on BLM/DEI side and all that. But they are not "capitalism is systemic plunder of the poor" wokes or "we stand with Iran" wokes.
There's plenty of capitalism-is-systemic-plunder-of-the-poor people making mid-6-figures and building up some really nice equity at the FAANGs. You can be a Marxist as long as you don't oppose the wokes.
More options
Context Copy link
"Capitalism is systemic plunder of the poor" is not wokeness, it's good old fashioned communism. One of the main criticism the old left has of wokeness is that it leaves corporations intact as long as an appropriate fraction of CEOs are queer women of color. See rainbow capitalism, /r/stupidpol, Freddie deBoer's nightmare scenario, etc.
Not so much, when you look at intersectional wokeness and the “all the evils are connected”.
Look for example at the pro-Palestinian folks talking about how anti-LGBT activism is connected to climate is connected to colonialism.
More options
Context Copy link
I deeply appreciate you fighting this fight. I've tried, but the vernacular of our society (and thus, this website) is wildly unable to separate the woke from the old left.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
By this standard the Democrats are pro-Republican.
That is correct!
The democrats are left social corporatists slowly unrolling state capacity to manage, the republicans used to be right social corporatists slowly unrolling state capacity to manage, and are now right social corporatists quickly unrolling state capacity to manage.
It's why even though democratic policy goals are massively popular, the democratic party is completely despised: they say some FDR shit and then follow the regan program.
More options
Context Copy link
Both parties contain factions …
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Not being a literal communist is not the same thing as being "pro Republican".
Being anti regulation, pro corporate power over labor, pro lower taxes, anti lowering spending does though, is the thing.
Eg, DEMs have Lina Khan, REPs have one of those bobbing bird toys with a rubber stamp that says "Go Nuts" on it.
It doesn't matter how woke you are if on one side the government says "You can't fucking do that, also say these woke shiboleths" and on the other the government says "Say these chud shiboleths and in exchange do whatever the fuck you want"
More options
Context Copy link
No. Might make you an anti-woke Democrat though.
But the original claim was that tech was pro-republican.
And anyway, not really. Being pro-DEI, but anti-"capitalism is systemic plunder of the poor" doesn't make you anti-woke.
Ah yeah, sorry, context was lost there.
I agree tech isn’t pro-republican.
I even agree it’s not anti-woke, but it does represent within woke a fairly distinct faction,
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link