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 -
Sure but the launch is an event, no? You can play GTA any time, but you can only play it at launch once at one particular time.
Which I don't find meaningful but clearly many people do.
There's nothing inherently disordered about saying within a marriage "hey I really want to do x, so in exchange I will do y for you." Inasmuch as that structure is rejected as illegitimate, I think that's bad for marriage.
In some sense every event is unique. This is my only chance to play it at 3:15 PM on a Friday the 13th in an even numbered month.
In another sense, events have various degrees of uniqueness. I think most normies, and probably even most gamers, will see a camping trip or vacation as significantly more dependent on scheduling than GTA is.
Your intuition seems to be incorrect with regards to normies. Generally I'd figure enlisted are the normiest of normies, and the DoW feels that playing GTA 6 at launch is such an incentive their offering it up to convince people to re-up.
But regardless, my concern isn't really "Do most people feel that the launch of a video game is as much of an event as things I want to do, like getting drunk at an iggles playoff game or setting a rock climbing tournament?" it's "Do people really think that they get to judge how I spend my free time because I have a wife and a kid, or insert themselves as the person I forgot to ask about a deal between my wife and I?"
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link