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 -
While it's true that the anti-government forces in Yemen are supported by Iran, that conflict would continue even if Iran magically poofed out of existence.
He considers a lot of things and does fuck all for many of the time. In fact Trump even says he will do something many times and still does fuck all, so saying he'll consider something is truly a nothingburger.
Very low according to polymarket. Maybe escalation of attacks against shipping but not by that much.
Why wouldn't they escalate in all the previous months? It's clear that the retarded tit-for-tat strikes of previous months have been a pain in the ass for both sides, and Iran would rather chill in the current standoff. While there's a chance Trump will escalate in the coming months, there's also a massive chance that Trump will pussy out like he's done countless times before, and Iran seems to like those odds.
The Houthis have repeatedly showed willingness to make peace with the United States. It's true that their recent attacks are not in the US's best interests, but they're clearly targeted at KSA and while the Houthis have the capacity to disrupt far more than they have done so far, they have chosen not to use that capability.
On the other hand Iran got a peace deal with quite favorable concessions from the USA but decided they still want to blow stuff up.
That’s a good point on Iran thinking he might just do another TACO. But if they think he may attack after the midterms, then their best strategy imo is to kick it off early and embarrass Trump and ensure a historic defeat. Making attacking them a political suicide is in their best interest. But maybe their intelligence thinks they have done enough. Interesting on the Polymarket odds. That makes me lower my estimate. I hadn’t seen those.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link