site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 12, 2022

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.

40
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

No, I think you were incorrect when you wrote "it's just that almost all trans are diametrically opposed to more core values that this forum holds." I don't think it's the case that almost all trans are diametrically opposed to this forum's core values. I think it's the case that almost all trans activists are diametrically opposed to those, and also that trans activists try to give the (unsupported) impression that trans people in general have some meaningful level of agreement with trans activists.

Ah. That might be the case, but I think there's a lot of overlap between trans and trans-activist.

I have or have had significant personal experiences with a number of transpeople. By and large, the activist trait is the most important one when it has come to personally figuring out if someone's values will align with mine or not (and, separately but related, this forum's core values). All my personal experiences with trans activists have seen them be left-wing and loudly against my values. Also, loudly against the values of this forum, as it's not generally believed outside this space that hateful people should be given a platform and that it's worthwhile to rigorously explore other's ideas.

Is this actually representative of the trans community? Couldn't say. But I can definitely say that every trans activist I've seen has been a censorious progressive, and every non-activist transperson I've dealt with is just... a normal person who happens to be trans and doesn't want to talk about it and is keenly more right-sympathetic, if not an outright right-winger themselves. Often, this left/right, activist/non-activist split also lines up with a doesn't pass/passes one, which I suspect has a lot to do with certain attitudes.

If the values of this forum are about free speech and rational constructive discussion, then why is it dominated by conservatives and reactionaries who don't let left wing comments get high rating, does this mean only right wingers value rational political debate or does it mean that left wingers do not like the way they are treated when they comment on here?

Downvotes don't take away your ability to use the forum. Don't get bogged down in pretend internet points, I have plenty of comments that have been voted negative and I'm very right-wing. It doesn't matter.