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 -
Well, there are old-fashioned Patrician, Evangelical, and Romney-esque moderates in sight, they're a bunch of the other candidates in the republican primary. But first-past-the-post voting means they don't have a chance since they're not the established front-runners, so no one will vote for them. I'm not sure how best to measure popularity objectively.
It's something of a Keynesian beauty contest, in that people don't want to waste their vote, and want the candidate to be able to win the general election, so they have to think about how everyone else will vote, not merely whoever their favorite.
Name 3, Heck name one that users here could be reasonably expected to recognize without the aid of google, and then post how they're polling compared to Trump and/or Desantis.
While I concede the possibility that a dark horse candidate may emerge (of those declared my money would be on Scott or Haley who are both still at least MAGA adjacent), as it stands this is a race between Trump and DeSantis. No one else is even close.
Most of them could be categorized to some extent as evangelical, almost everyone comes across as more pious than Trump. But I can't name any who are clearly moderates that could be expected to be recognized, as they're irrelevant.
Everyone except Trump and Desantis are doing absolutely miserably in the polls, and mostly only have a chance if one of the frontrunners withdraws or dies.
I wasn't trying to say they had a chance, just that they existed. I don't know that we disagree, really.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link