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 -
They are, even if they try to find excuses otherwise, as his objective for becoming better looking was explicitly for the goal of attaining women’s attraction, thus implying women’s preferences might be less than perfectly Wonderful. “Looksmaxxing,” the (supposed) movement being seethed about, literally begins with “looks.”
The notion that steroids help you be simultaneously thin and muscular and that stimulants help you be thin was not some magical discovery Ser Braden stumbled upon in the mid-202Xs. Few, if anyone, however, have become so well-known for packaging the two together so explicitly for garnering female attraction.
Many predecessors have discussed steroids and/or stimulants for more nebulous goals such as bodybuilding and sports performance enhancement, but less explicitly in packaging the two together for attracting women. Which goes back to the looks-for-women part. Braden was not supposed to say the quiet part out loud.
Considering how many more women than men are on drugs related to mental disorders, this should be a nothingburger to the extent men look for solutions to mitigate social anxiety. Come to think of it, considering how many girls and women are on hormonal birth control (only for helping with acne and cramps, of course), men leveraging hormone-altering supplementation shouldn’t be a big deal either.
The encouraged “danger[]” is far overblown. Steroid-use, as practiced by normal gym bros (as opposed to hardcore bodybuilders wanting to be stage-ready) is not that big of a deal at all. At least according to his Wikipedia page, Peters readily admits to a possible linkage between adolescent-steroid usage and infertility, of which his audience is likely aware. I imagine he has expressed similar caveats to his viewers with regard to stimulant use. And like you said, the bone-smashing (more like tapping) probably isn’t doing much of anything good or bad.
More options
Context Copy link