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 -
An hour actually seems like not long at all.
Even if it took them 30 minutes to realize that targets were being bombed, they had plenty of time to leave. A 5 minute walk away and they would probably have been safe.
When I think about my childhood, the schools in my area would all close if there was even a little bit of snow on the ground. (Or even a forecast of some snow.) Snow!
So if American schools can show this level of concern for the safety of children, even when the risks are tiny, why couldn't the Iranian government show concern for their children when the risks were clearly much larger?
Like, unless they were total negligent morons, at some point they must have realized that there was some risk to converting a military building to a school, and they should have a plan to protect children just in case.
Why? Those children serve as the hair trigger for the tripwire force (they've learned well from Hamas), and you don't even have to arm them for them to be effective in that role. Aggressively putting them in danger like that is kind of the point.
At least if they do get killed you don't have to wait very long for their replacements- it takes 14-16 years for a militarily-effective male to grow, but little girls can play the part of "cry for the cameras while being on fire" in as few as 5 or 6. Lightning fast by comparison. (Dead babies aren't quite as photogenic.)
Are you conceding that @KlutzyTraining's "worst case" interpretation of both the Iranian Regime's and the media's motives is accurate?
If so, why are you defending the Iranian Regime and the media?
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link