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 -
Haven't you watched the news in like the last decade or few at all?
Ebola, Zika, Mpox, plain old HIV.
Diseases form all the damn time in Africa.
And HIV too of course. But these viruses have been around since at least the 1970s, realistically much longer. Africa today has a population far greater than when these diseases developed. Why aren't we seeing like 10x the number of new diseases?
And why not India which even today has the same population as Africa and historically was much more populated.
Clearly there is more to disease formation than just raw human population.
I don't think HIV was well-known until well into the 80s, even if it was recorded earlier. There are plausibly a dozen or two documented-but-small-scale diseases today that will blow up in the next decade or two. Mpox wasn't new, but the mutation that was spreading was, AFAIK.
True though that also raises the question how modern air-travel hasn't led to way more random diseases surging around than actually have. You can get from Bumfuck Africa to an international hub in like 24 hours now. I'm pretty sure even in Africa the majority of the population could get to Dubai within 2 days if they really needed to.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link