site banner
PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   20280 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 12, 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.

6
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

A huge number of prominent conservative influencers took this disturbed woman's claims at face value

My god, those conservatives acted like liberals! How dare they behave the way the other side demands they behave!

I mean yeah they did it for braindead tribal reasons but come on Jesse. What an obnoxious way to phrase it.

another red flag is when claims are made by objectively bad people.

hmm see above. Funny how this kind of thing only matters when they're bad people on the other side.

If they might vote Dem, who cares if they assaulted 500 grannies on the subway, right?

There is a demand for bad news and conspiracies about Talarico, but there just isn't enough supply to match so sloppy and unethical influencers see financial incentives to find something.

The Cornell 7, Jussie Smollett, Duke Lacrosse, UVA, Colorado burning cross, Covington Catholic, that Nascar driver and the garage door pull, etc etc.

Alas! Forshame! Right-wingers as a class are merely human. How dare they not universally be saintly and above temptation towards base and tribal incentives.

To reiterate the most important part he said IMO, It's good for business. There is a market demand for this sort of slop, but not enough actual verifiable high standards of evidence supply

Also come the fuck on Hasan exists and he's worse than any of these idiots.

But yeah they suck, the lie was stupid, it shouldn't have spread, Talarico's a weird little wilting daisy, blah blah.

Boo Outgroup.

My god, those conservatives acted like liberals! How dare they behave the way the other side demands they behave!

"Anytime anyone I agree with idealogically does something bad, it's just because they're acting like The Enemy" is an interesting stance while also complaining that someone like Jesse Singal (who has taken plenty of heat for his sticking to his views instead of playing tribal politics) or Binion (who is known for doing the same) is being too boo outgroup.

"Anytime anyone I agree with idealogically does something bad, it's just because they're acting like The Enemy"

I don't agree with the conservatives here, it was stupid. I'm poking fun at #believewomen. Conservatives are believing women! Shouldn't liberals be happy? Ah, maybe the real rule is more subtle, but no one wants to define it.

Jesse Singal (who has taken plenty of heat for his sticking to his views instead of playing tribal politics)

Jesse takes heat on trans issues specifically. Since we've departed from peak "mostly peaceful arson" insanity, on everything else he is extremely predictable and entirely tribal.

As a barpod listener it's hard to say if his braindead take on Rotherham (terrible topic to do with a comedian) or the Citibike nonsense was worse.

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