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 -
This is a Jewish thing. Jews traditionally interpret the commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain, for YHWH will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain" as prohibiting inappropriate usage of YHWH as a personal name for God. The Jewish tradition deals with vague biblical laws by "putting a fence round the law" - i.e. unless there is a very good reason for pushing the boundaries of the law they set up social norms which prohibit anything that might be a violation of the underlying divine law. In this case, Jews never use a personal name for God at all - hence euphemisms such as HaShem (literally, "the name") or "The LORD" (used in small caps in the KJV and KJV-inspired English translations of the Old Testament where the original Hebrew has YHWH).
Christians are bound by the divine law against blasphemy, but not the Pharisaical fence against using a personal name for God, and in English Christians generally use "God" as a personal name for God the Father. So English-speaking Jews say G*d to make it clear they are not doing that. (So, wildly inappropriately, do some philo-Semitic Christians as a show of solidarity)
As a PMC white New Yorker who writes for a living, it is a safe assumption that Annie Hamilton either is a secular Jew, or lives in a social milieu dominated by them. So she is expressing allegiance to New York Jewish culture - presumably unironically - not trying to avoid blasphemy.
More options
Context Copy link