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 -
°
All in all, we trekked to the place for a long time and had fun, and Granny held her own.
And, at last, we reached it. The pine forest parted a little, a clearing peered through, and on it – a stone. A humongous boulder, twice as tall as a man. You can only find such boulders in the forest in the northern countries. It got tossed in here to all hells in the Ice Age. And my grandmother immediately flung up her hands: «My sweeties, there it is!» We came closer, went around the boulder, and in it – a niche, sort of like a cave. And in the niche – three busts, carved into this granite boulder. Sonya and I just opened our mouths. Three busts! Carved right out of the stone, as if protruding from the wall of this cave. And the work is quite detailed, filigree. For some reason, I immediately recalled the statue of Pharaoh Khafre, which struck me with the craftsmanship, pharaoh was also carved from granite, and on his shoulders sits some falcon, its wings shielding the back of his head from enemies. Wish I had such a falcon these days!
We and Sonya are standing there, as if in a slight astonishment, while our grandmother immediately walked over to the busts, bowed and said loudly: «thank you, Three Greats!» We came to our senses, went over to the busts, started to touch and examine them. And Grandma said:
«Wait a minute, kids, I'll tell you everything in order. My dear grandchildren, these are three statues of three fateful rulers of Russia, the Three Great Baldies in front of you, three great knights who have crushed the dragon-state. The first of them, that sly one with the small beard, crushed the Russian Empire; the second, with the glasses and the spot on his bald head, destroyed the USSR; and this one, with the little chin, ruined the terrible country called the Russian Federation. And all three busts were carved out sixty years ago by my late husband, a democrat, a pacifist, a vegetarian and a professional sculptor, in the summer when the dragon Russia finally died and stopped devouring its citizens forever.
And the grandmother started to come up close to each bust and put candies and gingerbread on its shoulders. And she was saying: This is for you, Volodyushka, this is for you, Misha, and this is for you, Vovochka. Sonya and I are standing watching, and she lays it all out, muttering something affectionate. Unusual! And our grandmother was an atheist at all times, she didn't worship anything or anyone. And this was straight up a temple with three deities. Sonya was smart, so she kept quiet.
And I, of course, burst with questions: Grandma, how and what is that? So she told me everything in detail, and then sort of summed it up. She said that Russia was a terrible anti-human State at all times, but in the twentieth century, this monster was especially ruthless, then there were rivers of blood and human bones crunching on the fangs of that dragon. And to crush the monster, God sent three knights all marked with baldness. And they, each in his own respective time, performed feats. The bearded one crushed the dragon's first head, the bespectacled one the second, and the one with the small chin cut off the third. The bearded one, he says, succeeded through bravery, the bespectacled one through weakness; and the third, through cunning.
And this last of the three bald men, by all appearances, was the one Granny liked best. She mumbled something tender, caressed him, put a lot of candy on his shoulders. And she kept shaking her head: how hard it was for that third, the last one, the hardest of it all. For, she said, he did his work secretly, wisely, sacrificing his honor, reputation, bringing wrath on himself. She says: how many insults have you suffered, what hatred of fools, the stupid anger of the masses, all the backbiting! And she pets him and kisses him and embraces him, calling him a little crane, and she bursts into tears. Sonya and I were taken aback a little. And she said to us: kids, he endured a lot and did a great job. My grandmother categorically forbade us to take pictures of the cave with the smarty, she said - it's not good for sacred things to photo and reproduce them. A pity! We agreed to come here next year.
And on the way back, we stopped at our beloved family Snowman, and I must say, we had a wonderful lunch.
– Telluria. Vladimir Sorokin, 2013.
More options
Context Copy link