site banner
PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   14281 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 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.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I mean if an investigation was never done why would evidence miraculously appear later?

Standing issues, the mainstream right hating Trump (especially after Jan events) and other factors left much of this not addressed.

Even with all that that didn't one of the Georgia cases result in something? I've never seen it posted in the MSM ("because ancient news!!") but people have mentioned it.

Everyone moving on is part of why we don't follow-up. When you add on the Trump teaming being incompetent...

That's just for the traditional malfeasance. Personally I believe that the election was stolen in the following way - if you restrict access to the public sphere (COVID restrictions) and censor the private replacements (all the tech companies uniting to oppose Trump) then you don't have a "free" election. I know lots of people feel this way and lots of people don't, but much evidence has come out after the factor about how a variety of organizations that shouldn't have been involved tried to impact the election results without touching ballots.

I mean if an investigation was never done why would evidence miraculously appear later?

Then what was the pretext for the investigation? Surely if you had something on the level of probable cause, you could share it with the rest of the class?

Even with all that that didn't one of the Georgia cases result in something? I've never seen it posted in the MSM ("because ancient news!!") but people have mentioned it.

Probably this. And that's the sort of thing I mean. That's a good example, clear evidence of violated procedures that could have plausibly swung the outcome. But there were scores of specific claims like this and, when pressed by ymeskhout, relatively few of them even rose to the level of "specific details cited by literally anyone, anywhere".

Personally I believe that the election was stolen in the following way - if you restrict access to the public sphere (COVID restrictions) and censor the private replacements (all the tech companies uniting to oppose Trump) then you don't have a "free" election. I know lots of people feel this way and lots of people don't, but much evidence has come out after the factor about how a variety of organizations that shouldn't have been involved tried to impact the election results without touching ballots.

And I think there is merit to this argument. But it's the one people settled on after the most of the initial hopeful flurry of explicit stolen election claims faltered.

Then what was the pretext for the investigation? Surely if you had something on the level of probable cause, you could share it with the rest of the class?

Again, there were a large number of complaints and many of them were dismissed on weird procedural grounds. Legal? Probably? Sketchy? Definitely. Damaging to the framework of democracy? For sure.

And I think there is merit to this argument. But it's the one people settled on after the most of the initial hopeful flurry of explicit stolen election claims faltered.

A mix of complaints were tossed out from the get-go, people who didn't buy those complaints focused on the weakest ones (as it always in an argument).

I'm sure someone here remembers all of the details of election complaints, I sure as hell don't. What I can do is reflect is that I hated what Yassine was doing and I found it to be radicalizing (away from him). I'm sure some others feel the same.

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