site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 20, 2023

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.

15
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Am I just overthinking this entirely and letting a flippant shitposty meme trigger me into neurotic despair?

Probably. I think "Theatre Kid" is just a broad stereotype, like, say, tech-bros or rainbow-haired SJWs or the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.

That said, the intersection of Art and right-wing thought is an interesting one. I'd give a couple of possibilities as to why the right tends to be disinterested in art. (mostly just spitballing here)

  1. Institutional dominance. The creative organs are so overwhelmingly left-wing that it's virtually impossible for anyone on the right to gain traction, and thus most potential creators just don't even try.

  2. Tied in with the first is that left-wing messaging alienates those on the right, so they tend to consume media that has withstood the test of time (the classics) or is from cultures that are disconnected from the Western zeitgeist (Anime)

  3. Signaling. There are some hobbies/activities that get closely associated with a political position even if it doesn't necessarily make sense, and fine art has been tied in with the Left, in much the same way that NASCAR is tied in with the Right.

  4. Survive/thrive mentality. (https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/04/a-thrivesurvive-theory-of-the-political-spectrum/). Art for art's sake is very much a luxury hobby, so it seems somewhat useless to those on the right who just want to work, raise their families, and grill.

  5. Leftward pull. Humans are social animals, and so a right winger creative will naturally be influenced by the environment around him. If that entire professional environment is left-wing, he will naturally be inclined to moderate his views and output in order to fit in with his peers.

https://www.tumblr.com/rightwingart

This guy J Arthur Bloom from American Conservative and Daily Caller etc. started this blog for right-wing art years ago fwiw.