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 -
Star Wars ones that nobody bothered to remove the shrinkwrap from. I'll never understand the point of collecting something that you don't intend to use for its actual purpose. Jay Leno's car collection is worth a lot more than some old guy's toys, and he actually drives the cars. I collect records, and I'm glad that community is a little more level-headed. Sealed copies aren't necessarily worth more than ones that have been opened and played, because the records can be damaged anyway and there's no way of visually inspecting them or verifying that that there aren't any defects that will affect playback. Years ago, a record store in Pittsburgh ended up with a rare Robert Johnson 78 that was part of an auction lot of miscellaneous records. Did they put it under lucite? Sell it at auction for top dollar? No, the owner kept it in his personal collection and played it in the store every Saturday at 1 pm to create a reason for people to come in.
It would take a long time to verify that every piece is included in a 1000+ piece set. I can see a premium market for shrink-wrapped sets.
I understand what you're saying, but I doubt the people paying top dollar for these sets are doing so because they intend to build them.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link