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 -
I think the issue is going to be the jury.
There’s obviously a big problem seating a jury on a case of the former president in the first place. You can’t accept anyone who voted in 2020 — they would have had to pay attention to Trump enough to form an opinion on him (whether for or against) in order to vote. That’s 55% of the city of New York before we even start. Add in the people who work for Trump in varying capacities, are working for suppliers to Trump properties, or live in a Trump building, and we’re down to 25% of the population of New York. This is before dealing with the hardship problems (there’s no way you can have the defendant actively campaigning and not sequester the jury), the length of the likely trial (and Trump might well want to go for delay of game here). It’s a small pool of candidates.
You’ll also have a small chance of a mistrial. A juror got removed from the OJ case for writing a book about being on the OJ jury. This trial is bigger. There are also lots of people very motivated to tamper with the jury. Add in the potential for things seen on the drive to the court biasing the jury (a protest? A bank of boarded up buildings in anticipation of a guilty verdict? A courtroom outburst?). The probability is low, but I think it’s a bit higher just because of the profile and motivation here.
More options
Context Copy link