site banner
PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   19009 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

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.

4
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

No, I still don't know who that is.

I've also said multiple times and been very explicit and consistent with my views, which I doubt he shared consider I know I'm a rather rare breed!

I believe in free trade, laissez-faire capitalism, individualism > collectivism, that people who complain about the modern world are typically just historically illiterate, that government should generally be small and stay out of people's lives (and that government oppression differs significantly in severity from "social oppression" which I don't care about as much because government claims the monopoly on violence), and that people should generally have near maximal freedom including doing things to themselves that others think is bad or unhealthy like drugs. Or whatever else.

How often do you find someone so libertarian about letting people have the freedom to OD themselves they think drugs should be legal? Not often, I doubt he did cause I'm rare lol

But I get why you have trouble keeping folk like me around when it's constant conspiracism and insults from many users like this for the act of having a different opinion from them.

If you want to block someone, block them and move on, do not loudly announce you are blocking them, do not loudly announce you are reporting them, and do not say you're blocking someone but you're unblocking just to have one last word.

Yeah that's probably right, just wanted to give them the chance to apologize and I thought letting them know is a good way to say "Hey I'm actually being serious here". For what it's worth, they did do a sorta apology and admitted the comment was about me, so that's why I unblocked! I don't like having people blocked on any social media unless they're spamming or a bot or something.

Fwiw I didn't think you were Darwin. And generally speaking you have not been modded harshly. You get reported a lot for taking contrary opinions, but we don't mod people for that. That you rile people is clear, and yes, I realize that being a lefty here means getting dogpiled a lot, and that's no fun. People are not allowed to insult you, but they are allowed to argue with you, and they are allowed to say they don't like how you argue.

You do seem to enjoy rattling cages, and you can hardly go around poking people and then complain that you are being poked back.

That you rile people is clear, and yes, I realize that being a lefty here means getting dogpiled a lot, and that's no fun.

I don't even really consider myself a lefty, like I said I stan historical figures like Reagan and Ayn Rand and have strong capitalist views. That my libertarian stance puts me in opposition to many right wing views (especially modern ones under the MAGA wing) shouldn't make me "lefty". I don't think the idea that politics can be summed up in just two "sides" is a good one.

Now I don't talk about as much about my more right wing sided views here, but why would I? Discussion is boring and lame just joining the circlejerk that already exists, this site has enough of the uber conservatives. I'm gonna mostly talk about the stuff in my views that differ.

You do seem to enjoy rattling cages, and you can hardly go around poking people and then complain that you are being poked back.

I don't mind when people are passionate and pokey, if I did I wouldn't be here still to say it happens! I'm just saying that yeah it happens and people do sometimes have weird freakouts and screeds at me like that and I get how that pushes others away.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats