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 -
3-5% of men will commit a violent felony in their lifetime. (About 1% of women will commit a violent felony in their lifetime.)
If 2-4% of women find a violent criminal sympathetic and take actions to express their sympathy, then it seems like we are at parity for how deranged each sex is.
If I saw a poll saying that the majority of women think Clancy should be found insane, then I don't think that means that the majority of women support Clancy, lots of men on this forum also agree that it's possible that Clancy was insane.
I doubt that more than 4% of women are actually materially supporting Clancy.
It doesn’t need to be a majority of women. Just like with Islamism and Socialism, my concern is if there's more support than I am comfortable with before I let the preference cascade do its usual slide. And as we all know, society has had a weakness when it comes to bending itself to satisfy a 'loud minority' once it exceeds a low threshold.
This also not a case being witnessed in a vacuum. The discomfort comes from watching the typical excuse making and minimization extend even to something this heinous. Nor do I think much turns on wether shes 'truly insane'. The question is what to do in the aftermath any way. If the father had murdered his children in a psychotic break, many men may also have a degree of sympathy or understanding for him. My hunch is that none of them would strenuously object if it was determined he still needed to be hung.
But yes, I too would like to see a decent poll on the matter. The displays outside the court and the online defensiveness is distortive. It is also not a clean break away from the kind of soft-pedaling I've encountered irl.
I mean, for starters, some of us are against the death penalty even as applied to sane murderers.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link