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 -
Welcome back to the United States House of Representatives quest to choose a Speaker. Now in week 4.
The current Republican Candidate is Mike Johnson (R-LA). There hasn't been much by way of public dissent from Republicans on Johnson (at least that I've seen) so he may be someone that has a real chance. Frankly I'd be a little surprised that Reps opposed to Jordan would be fine with Johnson given their similarities. There has been little public dissent and allegedly was not much dissent in the Republican Conference after he was selected. First vote expected to start shortly.
ETA:
By a vote of 220-209 Mike Johnson becomes the new Speaker of the House on the first ballot.
A literal young-earth creationist is now Speaker of the House. I'm surprised that we don't have more people upset about this on a rationalist forum. That he was elected should be a pretty damning indictment of the US Republican party---anyone here voting for them better have a really strong benefit in mind that is worth this crazy of a trade-off.
If I had any reason to believe that Christian fundamentalists were going to come to power in the US in the near future, I might care. But they’re not, so I don’t.
What do you call this if not a Christian fundamentalist coming to power in the US? Perhaps that's not what you meant---maybe I should read this as you'll worry if Christian fundamentalists were able to get their policy preferences passed? Do you remember the Dobbs decision? As far as policy goes, Christian fundamentalists are doing way better than they were in the early 2000's.
I feel like a lot of this sub is people who have no experience of the US beyond places like the SF Bay Area and therefore have no idea about which extreme ideologies are actually at risk of gaining power. Go visit the suburban South for a bit, pay attention to the social communities there, what the schools are like, etc. and then check back on your judgement of how close Christian fundamentalists are to being a serious threat.
What Christian fundamentalist policy preferences have you seen happen recently? Certainly abortion isn't a christian fundamentalist exclusive issue, especially not when some states are as loose as they are with the cutoffs for it.
Have you seen other preferences happen?
You can look through some of recent cases here. Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue and Carson v. Makin for example are approximately mandating funding of religious schools.
So just equal protection cases or is there some specific policy win you'd like to call out?
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link