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 -
Was it crass? Yes. Disgusting, outrageous? Yes. Did it result in those involve being subject to ridicule and harassment? Seems like it. You can find what Afroman did as offensive as you want, but making fun of people isn't necessarily defamatory. Even in your example, the only scenario under which you'd be found liable for defamation is if the jury concluded that a reasonable person would believe that, based on the video, you had, in fact, had sex with the barista, and that this would damage her reputation. Lying about who you slept with isn't necessarily defamation, even if the lie is told in a more serious context than a rap video. What Afroman did may be intentional infliction of emotional distress, but that wasn't part of the suit.
From your other comment:
You then go on to describe all the elements of the video. Except the argument you're making is exactly the one the court rejected in Falwell. Mr. Falwell argued that the parody in question was so outrageous as to take it out of First Amendment protection, and the court ruled that that isn't a thing. All your argument boils down to is that Afroman's conduct was worse because it was more outrageous than what Hustler did. I don't see how anyone can argue with a straight face how anyone viewing that video could reasonably conclude that Afroman knew about the sexual proclivities of a police officer who was present when his home was raided, and also had video of her licking pussy with him standing in the background. The idea that anyone would be misled by that is absurd.
More options
Context Copy link