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 -
In Germany there's a very large part of the population who are deeply and solidly pro-russian, some out of anti-americanism and some out of genuine sympathy for russia (there are lots of russians and russo-Germans in Germany, after all), and this used to extend into politics as well. Those were not just the fringes, but large parts of all political parties - though the fringe parties had a larger share each, to be sure.
They're all silent now. They might emphasize the risks involved in prolonging the ukraine crisis, our dependency on russia or the need for peace, but always on the back foot and ready to go into hiding. The overton window here has grown very narrow very fast.
I think it's that the pro-Ukraine position has broad support but is also new enough that politicians have not yet figured out how it's sliced. It's less that 70% are for supporting Ukraine, and probably more that parties are uncomfortable with how many people in their own electorate support Ukraine. There's no "common knowledge" that any party's votership is pro-Ukraine or anti-Ukraine.
If 70% of people want a product with feature A, and 22% want a product with feature B, then 100% of products will have feature A unless a company can figure out how to target the B market segment reliably. (Preferably both at once, of course.)
I'm very sure it's possible to be in 22%, companies to know about it and still don't get the product. I wish a smartphone without silly notches or punchholes, and without glass
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
People are arguing as if German-Russian interdependence is some vague deus ex machina. It was deliberately devised and implemented by several popular chancellors over three decades. Everyone understood that the goal was a Europe spanning Hamburg till Vladivostok or whatever. German industrial prosperity is in large part a consequence of cheap Russian energy and imports. Hell, it even used to be common knowledge that could be discussed on mainstream media that Ukraine is a very corrupt and oppressive state who coincidentally ended up with a lot of Russians within its borders.
I feel like the civ games are missing an important victory mode, the media victory. It’s when a country has such domination over your media that they can make your own population forget or come to believe anything overnight.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link