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 -
If you believe Hanania thinks leftist voters are all geniuses... you're not very familiar with his work. He's gone into what he thinks of left-leaning voters before I'm sure, but this article isn't about "R voters are uniquely stupid", so he didn't deem it relevant to bring it up.
It's not a motte and bailey because it's not a central point, or even an argument (as you presented) that he believes in at all. The real point is about Desantis. Desantis would be crushing Trump if the R electorate was completly made up of themotte posters and National Review type right-wing intellectuals, but it's not, and it's ludicrous to expect them to be. Desantis' pitch of "Trump but competent" won't land with less engaged, less interested rightwing voters.
Yeah, maybe, but the conservative base is extremely frustrated with "National Review type right-wing intellectuals" which doesn't mean that they're:
I mean, if you imagine yourself being like National Review pundits, I sincerely hope you pick higher ambitions.
‘National Review’ type intellectuals doesn’t mean anything. Some of the above supported Trump, some didn’t. The Flight 93 Election article was written by a Trumpist intellectual.
It means something, and not anything good.
NR is now a byword for Conservative, Inc grift.
They're hated not just by the base. They live almost entirely within the moral framework set up by their enemies, which means they cannot possibly succeed.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link