site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 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
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Saw numbers that Lula's increase from the first round is more than the total number of votes cast for every other candidate that was eliminated in the first round. On top of Bolsonaro gaining a modest increase in total votes. So yeah, apparently over 100% compared to the last round of "mandatory" voting.

Arguably this could be a result of more excitement and attention over the election.

That being said, I would be somewhat interested to know the vote totals from the polling stations for that 1 or 2 hour block where they were apparently held open longer.

But not super-interested, because I think that probably both sides are cheating pretty aggressively.

Arguably this could be a result of more excitement and attention over the election.

Attention and excitement resulting in something like a 10% swing in favor the the incumbant after just giving the opposition party supermajorities in both legislatures 20 days before?

What do you think happened in those 20 days that caused such a massive swing?

On an unrelated note, Judge Voldemort has already demanded Bolsonaro the Younger surrender his passport to keep him from "fleeing". I can't wait to hear all the norms-enjoyers have a very principled crashout about that.

Attention and excitement resulting in something like a 10% swing in favor the the incumbant after just giving the opposition party supermajorities in both legislatures 20 days before?

Obviously if that's true, it's suggestive of cheating. My point was simply that a total increase in votes between the first round and the run-off doesn't say much.

On an unrelated note, Judge [de Moraes] has already demanded Bolsonaro the Younger surrender his passport to keep him from "fleeing". I can't wait to hear all the norms-enjoyers have a very principled crashout about that.

The most charitable interpretation I can think of is that (1) both sides are totally corrupt and will abuse their power in any way possible; and (2) I pray that the United States doesn't go any further down this road.