site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32834 thread views

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
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

This is possibly only very vaguely Culture War, but it's an update on the Sam Brinton luggage stealing saga. Before I begin, I want to say that this is not to dunk on the Biden administration or even non-binary persons. It's simply because this story is so ridiculous it is laugh out loud funny.

Seems like (and I have no idea if this is really true, but if it isn't, it should be) our person is a three times thief - allegedly. A Tanzanian-born fashion designer has now come forward, claiming her suitcase went missing back in 2018 and that subsequent photos of Brinton in particular outfits were her clothes. Yes, it's the Daily Mail, but it's got the best gallery of photos of what the designer alleges are her clothes and then photos of Brinton in similar outfits.

That would seem to answer the question "What does he do with the clothing in the luggage he steals?" 😁

I haven't been able to find any record of her selling her designs, so I'm not sure the obvious alternate explanation works here, but I don't know for sure, of course.

She seems to be claiming that these are personal items that were in her luggage which went missing, including necklaces. If he did buy her designs legitimately, there would be bonus points for supporting BIPOC women in business. He could have a reasonable explanation for the clothes and jewellery, but the photos do seem to be very similar.

Now, she could be lying and faking just to get attention for herself, which is always a possibility. But if she really did report a theft of luggage in 2018, that should be something that can be established. And maybe even was Brinton in the airport on the date?

It's just that this case has gone beyond "serious misjudgement" on the part of all concerned, and is veering quickly to farce. Now are we going to have to look at every photo of Brinton in a dress and ask "hey ladies, any of you have clothes like this that went missing?"

EDIT: The claim is that these were items designed for a fashion show, not her own clothes. This article is a little better on what happened.

The allegation came after a Twitter user pointed out that Brinton was seen wearing Khamsin’s dress in an old Vanity Fair article. The story titled “All the style of Sam Brinton” was reportedly published in the Italian version of the magazine in February 2022.

The photos showed the LGBTQ activist wearing the outfit at a Trevor Project event in 2018, the same year Khamsin's clothing was stolen. The latter told Fox News Digital that she recently saw a news report that showed Brinton being charged for stealing luggage at Minneapolis and Las Vegas airports.

Shortly after, she came across images of them wearing outfits that she allegedly lost at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on March 9, 2018.

But yeah, if there are credible accounts of him stealing three sets of luggage, this is looking less like "an impulsive decision due to stress and a once-off, your Honour" and more like an established pattern of behaviour. I doubt he's getting his job back any time at all.

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