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 -
The EU thinks of the US a lot because they are very clearly just a vassal of ours, and they hate us for it. The US perception of Europe is that of an adult thinking about a child.
Think of all of the meetings an letters and absolute bullshit that they did in response to Ukraine/Russia. It was ALL just whining (like a child would whine) to try and get us to do something. If you asked a random European what they thought of Donald Trump, they would have an answer, likely a negative one. If you asked an American what they thought of almost any European leader they would have no idea who you were talking about. Does the EU have a president? Is it a government of some kind? Some countries have kings, but also presidents and prime ministers? What is the "house of commons" and "house of lords" and what the hell are the various political parties? Torries and bories and dinghis and labor and whiggies or something? It's all a joke.
And now consider that this morning news broke that there had been some sort of NATO-but-not-really meeting that didn't include the US: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/2/uk-led-coalition-of-35-countries-vows-action-on-hormuz-strait-gridlock.
Here was their big plan:
"Pledging appropriate efforts", yeah okay. With what? It would take a whole-of-Europe effort, with every country pledging their entire Navy to match the US.
I'm meandering here a little bit, but truly: Americans just find Europeans annoying. They're like the rainbow kids at burning man saying "why can't we all just live like this [where rich people give us free food and drugs and alcohol and spend millions of dollars on entertainment for us] all the time, man? Just living totally free and united [in the middle of a desert where it costs $400 to get in]???" They are not a serious people.
I think this is why Trump's message about Europe opening the strait themselves had some resonance with Americans. They can't. They are children who can't think strategically, and got themselves tied into a situation where they are at the behest of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. A regional conflict between Israel (and her vassal, The US) has realistically threatened their economy. This is the second time this has happened in the last decade, btw (previously, with Russia and natgas).
Little Marco's speech at the Munich Security Conference lays out the American perpective on Europe: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dlL3pwlO2rE
Except the data showed the opposite effect. Americans think Europeans are more capable than Europeans believe themselves to be.
Or maybe that's the crux, Americans think, "Europe is about the same size as the US when considered together, they coordinate together through this EU thing. Even working individually, European nations conquered half the world in the recent past. Europe is capable of doing more, but they are not for some reason." Which is frustrating to Americans.
Meanwhile, Europeans think, "America is so big and we're so little, they are so rich and we're so poor, their military so dominating and ours so stagnating. We fall over at the smallest breeze and America blowhards keep puffing."
More options
Context Copy link
If ChatGPT is to be believed, though, the EU countries have spent slightly more on supporting Ukraine in the current war than the US has, despite having only about 70% of the US GDP. You can argue that because the US does other things around the world that benefit Europe, this is only fair, and indeed it would be even more fair if the EU had spent even more than they actually have. However, clearly the EU countries have not just been sitting around asking the US to help.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link