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 -
This is admittedly a half-assed thought experiment of mine, but here it goes.
A voice recording surfaces one day of a discussion between some local ICE official and some prominent local Republican politician where they sort of joke around about some locally infamous MtF transsexual activist, calling "her" a man and an annoying twat or something similar. Both get condemned, even by many Republicans, and they release some non-apology "apologies" and otherwise keep their positions.
There are protests against them of course, but the local orgs/chapters of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Patriot Front etc. announce a rally/demonstration in support of them. The local Blue Tribe generally gets fired up about this and some local LGBT groups specifically announces a counter-demonstration/protest. One of the announced organizers is this fringe mask-worshipping lesbian cult. These groups release a united statement that they are inviting all decent, caring, empathic etc. local citizens to attend, or something like that.
So what do non-fringe Blue Tribe groups do as a response? Do they state that they refuse to attend because one of the organizers is a fringe group of insane people? Or do they simply not attend and otherwise refuse to comment on this particular aspect? Or do they attend but refuse to have pictures taken with these mask-worshippers or to shake hands with them? Will struggle sessions ensue?
More options
Context Copy link