site banner
PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   12238 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 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've replaced almost all of our (unground) beef intake with chuck roast. Slice it thin (and maybe pound it a little) and I think it's better than flank steak for fajitas. Else I just cube it and braise it. Couple hours of that and it's so delicious and tender. Plus you're getting a lot of nutrition and flavor out of the connective tissue that's converted to collagen. Hoping nobody else figures this out. Also, typically about half the roast is suitable for cutting into steaks and cooking normally, whereas only the other half is something you wouldn't want to cook that way.

Real steaks, like ribeye, have become exorbitantly expensive, but I've found that in almost all cases I like lamb shoulder chops better anyway and they're less than half the price per pound. My go-to is to marinate them in a little bit of very high-end soy sauce and rice vinegar.

Cannot for the life of me figure out why filet """mignon""" (it almost never is) is so expensive. Worst cut of meat on the cow IMO unless you're doing something very specific with it, but people go nuts and I sincerely think it's because "mignon" sounds fancy.

Filet is great though. It kind of lacks the meaty steaky flavor though, and the tender texture might be offputting to some people. Goes good with some sauces or deep fried.

Worst cut is definitely something like top round.

I feel like people realised that here long ago. When I can get flank steak for almost the same price then why bother?

Here the chuck roast I'm buying is $10.99/pound whereas the flank steak is usually more like $27.

But most people probably aren't feeding a wife who insists that every piece of meat be organic, pasture-raised, and from an animal with an endowment set up such that buddhist monks will be praying for them in perpetuity; etc.

whereas the flank steak is usually more like $27.

You might want to consider asking your friends out of state to buy you some beef and fedex overnight it to you. You'd still save money.

Even so chuck roast is generally sognificantly cheaper

Are whole cows available in the bay area? You might be better off buying a whole/half a cow directly from a rancher and getting it processed to eat over time.

Yes, that's definitely been something we plan to look into, and I'm not sure why we haven't gotten around to it yet. The economics make perfect sense and I'm more than happy to use all the weird cuts that would come along with it. Probably I should put Claude on the case.

Highest price = highest quality! O_O

It's a known phenomenon from marketing psychology. Sometimes if you increase the price of something to an absurd amount, you'll get more units sold.

One of my favorite books is 'How to Blacksmith'. It starts from absolute zero principles - that you have nothing and educates you on how to get into said topic.

The very foreword starts off with 'If you're thinking to get into this to make money as a side project, don't. You will not. Do not do this. You will end up disappointed and frustrated.'

It's not until the very last chapter that he basically says 'If you're determined to try and make money off of this, these are my experiences.' And one illustrative example he gives is 'If you're not able to sell a product, the first thing you should so is increase the price.'

And yet, despite all of this, I find alot of sales people I've interacted with seem incapable of grasping this.

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