site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   10602 thread views

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.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Electricians are not particularly ‘dumb’- thé really stupid tradesmen tend to be welders. Electricians and commercial HVAC techs tend to be noticeably smarter than other trades and generally slightly smarter than average.

I mean if you mean that they’re merely above average as opposed to geniuses, sûre, but that applies to most jobs.

Before the electrician gets to work, nine other guys have been there to locate the utilities, remove fallen trees, excavate the lines etc. I'm not even talking tradesmen. People seem to have little idea how much unskilled labor goes into all this shit. Cleaners, drivers, warehouse workers. People working odd hours and bad conditions to make sure everything runs right 9-5 for everyone else.

Yes, there absolutely are weak minds strong backs guys working very essential jobs that keep our society running. Electricians are a singularly poor example to pick; passing the journeyman's exam is an effective IQ filter and I'd be shocked if electricians didn't have a slight average IQ advantage over college graduates as a whole. Most of the grunt labor is also guys paying their dues who passed the math minimum to become an electrician.

I didn't say electrician, someone else did.

I'd be shocked

Appropriate reaction.

Even the simple problem of 'how does food get from the truck to the front side of a grocery store' involves some pretty varied people. I don't think it's fair to call it dumb, and the actual dumb coworkers can range from just a little slow to actively being a hazard to everyone else, but it's a job where you think with your muscles as much as your head. I've got an ex-coworker who was great at inventory management and billing, but went to throw boxes around because it was a job she just stop thinking about the second the shift ended. You take some income hits doing that, but she wanted kids, and the equation changes pretty dramatically.

I can confirm this. When I was in high school I was in a welding class elective with a couple friends of mine. We had to pass a basic test/exam of sorts before we got to go out on the shop floor and start doing things; but there was this Asian kid named David who somehow made the cut; and this guy was dumb as hell; nearly causing some real accidents both to himself and other kids. Anyway after being slotted into doing different small tasks and assignments, the teacher (who I thought was a complete jackass and I didn’t like) started rotating us to different stations to inspect the work the other students had been doing and one of my friends goes, “Oh yeah, this one was definitely made by China,” (points over at David). He did a horrible job.

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