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 -
No peace deal with Iran
Can I just point out that 21 hours seems too short for negotiations? I don't think the talks were done in earnest, at all. The 150-page JCPOA took almost 2 years of frivolous negotiations and lasted just as long. A 21 hour session in the middle of an active conflict is not very likely to reach a better equilibrium that both parties are happy with. Iran carried bloodstained schoolbags of kids killed in the Minab strike on the flight to Pakistan, they were certainly not there to surrender. I suspect the administration (or at least Vance) already knew this, and deliberately structured one-sided terms intended to be rejected so Trump can attempt building political scaffolding for escalation and blame Iran ("Look, we offered Iran a peace deal and they chose not to accept it"). Meanwhile, the Israelis have been busy!
Between accepting one of the greatest strategic defeats in decades, and trying to prosecute a horrific war amidst historic energy and food prices, we remain stuck with the latter.
As far as I can tell the "negotiations" were just an excuse to avoid having to carry out "Power & Bridge Day"
The current cunning plan is to blockade the blockade and prevent Iranian or Iranian-approved ships from leaving. One might give this plan more credit if a month prior the same admin hadn't given Iranian oil sanctions relief under the pretense of reducing the pressure on oil markets. To flip-flop now guarantees the worst of both worlds: Iran still made billions from selling into the oil price spike and now the market is going to be hammered going straight from "peace in sight!" to "Strait even more closed than before!"
At least some oil bulls will get to eat lobster
Iran can’t do anything their money because we destroyed their military
Strait is still closed, you are impotent to resolve that. Genocidal threats, begging for help, counterblockades, general pathetic thrashing. Any timeline on actual solution? This is a costly chimpout for the rest of us.
Wasn’t America supposed to have surrendered and accepted terms by now? I thought mining the straits was supposed to be some death blow to American empire but apparently Trump is fine with blockading it himself
Your only rejoinder to the fact that America is losing is the fact that it hasn't surrendered yet? By this kind of logic, if I told you the US accepted a strategic defeat and begrudgingly pulled out of Iran, you'd still claim it's a victory because the Iranians didn't conquer the moon.
Sure yeah America is losing I’m sure we’ll surrender any day now
Yeah... I'm definitely curious to know where you're getting your news from so all of these claims can be vetted.
Just to take one of your points as an example, I assume this is the rescue operation of the pilot in question that you're referring to? I hope you'll forgive me for doubting official statements made on this matter; because I'm not buying it. The massive show of force is highly disproportionate for a discreet personal recovery mission.
The US government and mainstream news companies are reporting we infiltrated Iran to rescue our guy. You are not going to bait me into trusting some pimply YouTuber instead and I am not going to watch a 23-minute video to find out if he says anything interesting. Frankly this is embarrassing. It’s always possible if not likely that the official story covers up deeper truths but if you don’t believe basic facts about the war there’s nothing for us to argue about. Maybe the Iranians are marching on Washington as we speak.
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
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link