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 -
So the big story is Jensen Huang had an affair with now a second woman
source: https://thehill.com/business/6214833-nvidia-ceo-jesen-huang-affair/
It’s like, what is wrong with this guy? I predict NVDA stock will recover, and this does not affect AI overall or the upcoming Anthropic listing. What began as a personal matter has now consumed the news cycle, but does not affect much outside of Nvidia, IMHO.
This ties in with the ambiguities of morality. I predict Mr. Huang will recover. He will remain in good standing with the public and the media despite this. Yet had he been revealed as using a sock puppet for posting "badthink" online, well, this would be much worse in the eyes of the public. Indeed, Patrick Stewart had 2 affairs and it amounted to a footnote in media coverage of his passing. All he has to do is just lay low and he will recover, unlike, say, Louis C.K., whose career was destroyed (obviously consent is an issue here, too, and an affair presumes consent, whereas for #MeToo this was a murkier area).
The second part is about the smuggling and espionage aspect, where the implications, if true, would be much worse, an actual criminal offense, than merely a consenting couple having sex (albeit involving the CEO of the largest publicly traded company in the world), yet the lax reaction by Washington is weird.
It's being treated with the same seriousness as smoking pot behind McDonald's--technically a crime in some jurisdictions, but whatever. Espionage and smuggling were always considered grave offenses (e.g. in the context of the Cold War or Prohibition) and now they are secondary, inconsequential to the affair. Morality is weird...what people take offense to, how mores change (like anti-racism being much more important than faithfulness). I think it's implicitly understood Nvidia is a huge success and central to the US tech boom. Actually doing something would have almost all downside.
Older guy in position of power and influence, accustomed to being lauded as the Second Coming in his field (tech in this case, but can apply to any big business conglomerate), has younger women around as colleagues, subordinates, and business partners; wife is same age as him; men like younger women no matter the age of the guy; propinquity and flattery and ambition do the rest. Many such cases!
As the saying has it, "a standing prick hath no conscience".
Funny how easily all of the agency is assigned to one side or the other. Some other members of this forum would be thinking "women like powerful and rich men no matter their own SES" and complaining about hypergamy around now. Maybe they could even come up with their own saying about the conscience of a "wet snatch" or thereabouts!
Yes, Jensen was a poor little meow-meow led astray by designing hussies flinging themselves at him!
Or maybe a 63 year old guy who dresses like he's still 30 has bad judgement all round.
I'm not saying the women were blameless. Alice Huang, if she is a spy, has a reason for going after him (though if it's true her husband knew and approved or at least tolerated, it may simply be a grubby tale of pimping out your wife for financial benefit). Kimberly Powell has wrecked her marriage and, depending how long the affair was going on, tainted her reputation with the stigma of being promoted for sexual services to the boss and not on ability and talent.
But nobody made him go out and whore around. It was his choice.
Yes, yes, I feel like he should have had the common sense to know that women seeking to be mistresses of multi billionaires are not, in general, interested in them for their fashion sense.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link