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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 20, 2026

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I was commenting on leftists. For them Israel is yet another white supremacist western colonizer. In a sense Gaza war does not matter, the moral standard is "historical oppression" and history is unchanged - Palestinians were and always will be historically colonized and oppressed even if they clear Palestine from the river to the sea.

This is imo a strawman version of the leftist position that seems entirely derived from zionist interpretation (not saying you are a zionist, but most of your sources for this probably are). Yglesias used to openly advocate for the full ethnic cleansing of palestinians from Gaza. He is by all accounts a jewish supremacist, and frequently strawmans both the left and right anti-Israel position. But he is seeing the writings on the wall and trying to stake a position on Israel that is less repugnant for the average non jewish supremacists.

I am active in my local pro-Palestinian community. There are all walks of life here (including quite a few formerly zionist christians), but leftist dominate. The wider leftist position is quickly becoming the normie position because it is actually very defensible: "dont send money and weapons to a country full of religious nuts who believe they are justified in getting revenge on a defenceless population full of children". You honestly dont need to have any positive ideas about Palestine to reach this conclusion at all.

Most people are just horrified by Israels relentless violence towards the women and children of Palestine, and even more horrified by all the supposedly good people who are defending it. I dont think I have heard the word "historical oppression" once, and no one pretends that Palestinians are saints who can do no wrong. Nearly all advocacy is aimed at the innocent children in Gaza and excludes anyone who could possibly be a militant. Leftist have many terrible positions, but this is not one of them.

I don’t believe it’s a strawman. Yes you want to say it’s a strawman because it improves your arguments and makes it more prestigious.

But Jews are just “rich white people” is the only thing that connects all the issues the left has promoted recently. Third Worlders versus successful white people. DEI, BLM, etc common thread is that they attack richer, better, smarter white people who win. Brown people without a white enemy to attack never matter to the left.

When you only promote issues where they hurt white men then it seems apparent you just want to hurt white men.

Now I will admit there are always some with pure intentions. Some black people in blm. In this issue you have some pure Islamists who want to do river to the sea Jews will be gone because they rightfully view Israel as historically Muslim land and want to reconquista which is their right. And are using American leftists white man haters for their Muslim goals.

Support for Israel has taken a nose dive in every group except republicans over 50. If you think this is all due to Third Worlders I dont know what to tell you. People are increasingly seing the behavior of Israel and being put off by it.

The right doesn’t have pro-Palestinians. The left does. The right just wants Israel out of American politics or as allies.

People like Theo Von and Marjorie Taylor Greene absolutely come off as sympathetic to Palestinians, definitively more than most democrat politicians. Even Tucker seems supportive of the pro-Palestinian struggle.

Jews have been mostly traitors to the right. They need to do a lot to have us on their side

The wider leftist position is quickly becoming the normie position because it is actually very defensible: "dont send money and weapons to a country full of religious nuts who believe they are justified in getting revenge on a defenceless population full of children".

Sure, I could get under policy of not sending billions of dollars to Israel. Except it is probably more complicated given that Israel is an ally let's say in current conflict with Iran, they literally bombed the country. Whatever you think about this war, if it was caused by Israel or what, the fact is that it is a military ally and thus some support is necessary. US always sent weapons to movements and countries that committed violence. While your stance seems okay to me, it also seems naive.

By the way I am also for instance pissed that there is any help also sent to Gaza. I do not want to have anything to do with that awful place, it is not my responsibility. Let Egyptians and Saudis and other neighbors do that part.

Most people are just horrified by Israels relentless violence towards the women and children of Palestine, and even more horrified by all the supposedly good people who are defending it.

There are people now defending carpet bombing of Nazi Germany or Japan including dropping of nuclear bomb. If this is something that seems unbelievable to you then you probably are not so engaged in this discourse. The problem is that I am horrified by too many things, such as genocide in Darfur, and the overall region of Sahel and other things. I think that there are many conflicts where the moral situation is much clearer.

I am not particularly energized by Palestinians in this sense, I do not see a reason why they should jump as a front issue for me. For instance I am focusing on Ukraine, which has much more direct impact on me. If there would be any other conflict, it would probably be genocidal persecution of ethnicities linked to Christianity in Sahel region especially in Darfur and Nigeria. Everything else is distant.

I dont think I have heard the word "historical oppression" once, and no one pretends that Palestinians are saints who can do no wrong. Nearly all advocacy is aimed at the innocent children in Gaza and excludes anyone who could possibly be a militant. Leftist have many terrible positions, but this is not one of them.

I am curious. None of your leftie pro-Palestine friends ever used the term colonizer, colonized or colonialism in relation to this shit?

Except it is probably more complicated given that Israel is an ally this is something people dont want and its not just leftist, but its increasingly common to believe the US relationship with Israel is more beneficial to Israel than vice versa. The US is such a loyal and unconditional ally to Israel due to the influence of the Israel lobby and zionists.

[https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2026/4/20/voters-in-multiple-states-say-iran-war-benefits-israel-and-that-us-military-aid-to-the-country-should-be-halted](This is just one recent poll)

The republicans might be going through a generational loss in the Midterms due to how unpopular the war in Iran and subsequent cost of living crises will be. Everything they fought for might be evaporated, and there might be a generational rift in the party that might upend all power constellations. Democrats arent much better, but are probably likely to benefit from not being the ones who

Besides many European countries stood up to their American ally during the Iraq war and dont think anyone looks back at that and thinks that was a bad thing?

I am also for instance pissed that there is any help also sent to Gaza. I do not want to have anything to do with that awful place, it is not my responsibility. Let Egyptians and Saudis and other neighbors do that part. This is fine. Are you American? Does your country send substantial aid to Gaza?

I am horrified by too many things, such as genocide in Darfur, and the overall region of Sahel and other things.

Interesting, do you want to increase aid to Darfur? Would you vote for a politician who took money from a pro-Janjaweed group and defended their actions?

I am curious. None of your leftie pro-Palestine friends ever used the term colonizer, colonized or colonialism in relation to this shit?

The term colonization is absolutely used about the West Bank and I dont see a problem with that. But again you overestimating the degree to which discourse is about ideology. Most people are just upset about Israels behavior and the suffering of innocents in Palestine.

Interesting, do you want to increase aid to Darfur? Would you vote for a politician who took money from a pro-Janjaweed group and defended their actions?

I said that if anything, the things happening in Darfur or Nigeria are more important to me than fucking Gaza. Not that it essential or that it makes me single issue Darfur voter. I would analyze a politician holistically in line with principle of subsidiarity.

The term colonization is absolutely used about the West Bank and I dont see a problem with that. But again you overestimating the degree to which discourse is about ideology. Most people are just upset about Israels behavior and the suffering of innocents in Palestine.

And I think that you are underestimating the degree to which this discourse is captured by ideology. The level of emotion on the left is unhinged, it is just another operation with its own viral energy. I do not believe that it was all just some random thing when from all the conflicts and all the suffering of women and children in the world right now, this one was just randomly taken up by the left and hammered for years. I am not denying that the emotions are genuine, it is just strategically selected to garner sympathy. It is the same for all the leftist causes, like their most successful op so far of killing of George Floyd. Of course there were people genuinely horrified by what happened. But at the same time it was also a cynical operation to ram through policies that the left was preparing for decades. The same shit with Gaza here.

I have a feeling youre not american, because there is no way the pro-Palestinian side is the most unhinged. We literally have a congressman who tweetet: "Nuke Gaza", and a more than one senator who has said they main motivation for doing their job is helping Israel. The pro-Israel side started a multi-months harassment campaign and send death threats to a christian childrens youtuber because she mentioned Gaza in a fundraiser for Save the Children. Ackman tried to get a fellow finance guy fired because his daughter had protested Israel.

This is nothing like George Floyd, where I totally agree than republicans came out much better. The only way you would think this is if youre opinion is entirely filtered through zionist sources.

I do not believe that it was all just some random thing when from all the conflicts and all the suffering of women and children in the world right now Outside of 50 leftist on 10 campuses who are communists, and possibly even paid by China, the reactions are entirely related to the insane degree that the American establishment supports Israels crimes. Do you think someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Theo Von are influenced by leftist media bubbles? Then how come their reaction is nearly identical to that of a bunch of lib moms?

The behaviour that's referred to here is constant, everyday, ambient exposure affecting people who aren't even directly engaging with the issue, like blocking roads and disrupting unrelated public spaces. In my country, Domino's pizza was barred from a major university event by student groups purely over their continued operations in Israel.

Do you think someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Theo Von are influenced by leftist media bubbles

I don't know about Theo Von, but do you believe the woman who called Muslim Democrats the Jihad Squad, and who has maintained for damn near a decade that Zionists are flooding Europe with immigrants to replace the native white population is sincere in her moral apprehensions about the Gaza blockade? We both know she wouldn't want Palestinians in her own country, so is it really about the plight of Palestinian kids or simply sticking the knife to the Jews?