site banner
PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   11228 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 21, 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.

4
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I wear a mask when I’m flying. I keep having the bad luck of being seated near people who are coughing and sniffling, and before I masked I would inevitably catch a cold whenever I’d go abroad.

Seems silly to make it a political issue, you’re breathing dry recycled air, in close contact to random strangers, for several hours. I got tired of every holiday or business trip leading to me being sick for a few days. If it helps, I started before Covid after seeing Asian people do it.

For what it's worth, airliner air is not recycled. The air coming through the fresh air nozzles is coming from the pressurizing system, which typically uses bleed air from one of the jet engine compressor stages. At the same time, a relief valve lets air out to maintain the overall cabin pressure.

Yeah, wasn't there a study done showing that it's actually safer in the plane than many other indoor spaces? I think the reason people get sick from traveling is fatigue, breathing dry air, and dehydration, not anything particular to the proximity to others.

Wearing a mask in a bar probably makes more sense than doing so in a plane, but fortunately no one does it because they don't want to look like an antisocial freak.

Personally, I am not a big fan of masks because it tends to create a wall between yourself and others. It would be one thing if the healthiest people I knew were wearing masks and saying "I never get sick. This is awesome." Instead the people I know who still mask seem to have a lot of issues, mostly mental ones.

I think it's better for people to be beautiful, confident, and to project strong mental and physical health. Masking when not strictly necessary sends the wrong message.

According to this source it’s 50/50 recycled air but since it goes through HEPA filters it could actually reduce viral transmission compared to other indoor spaces. It’s probably moreso the low pressure/dryness that causes irritation, and the risk is from sitting very close to sick people for several hours.

I'm curious about the actual mechanism by which this may work. I guess you could say I was of the belief that making could work if you were in the area for a short amount of time, and then moved on to other air. Like, the mask would keep your personal air supply cleaner for a brief time, but eventually more air would have to come into your mask space, so for longer amounts of time, it doesn't make sense to me. This might not be how it actually works, or is purported to work at all, but it's just how I kinda envisioned it.

Is the mechanism your pointing at that there are infected droplets of water from other people's bodies in the air, and the mask helps filter them out, meaning to can have a continuously safe air supply? That model could make sense to me, but only if the air was actually moving through the mask material. For the surgical and cloth masks that were common during covid, I never felt like that was the case. It always felt like the air was just coming around the sides of the mask, not through it. Are you supposed to press your lips right up against the mask, kinda kissing it all the time, sucking the air through the cloth itself?

I wear N95/FP2 masks which have a tight seal and are made of a stiffer material than standard cloth. The air does move through it so if worn properly it should block the majority of droplets/viral particles continuously.

Cloth masks are definitely less effective, especially if there’s a gap on the sides where you’re breathing unfiltered air.

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