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 -
I think you’re underrating the possibility of this being paid for by some kind of Jewish organization- off duty and uniformed police officers are common high end security and Jewish organizations are both wealthy and paranoid.
My Catholic Church has police presence during Mass because we pay for it. I really don’t think that this is a religious prejudice.
Synagogues in Australia do this - I believe the guards are mostly volunteers who are trained on the synagogue's own payroll.
In the past I found it a bit odd, since noticeably mosques and gurdwaras don't do this, despite Muslims and Sikhs also being religious groups that are widely hated, and which are actually more publicly identifiable than Jews due to their headscarves and turbans, but since October 7 I have re-evaluated a little and am more understanding of Jews feeling a need for special security.
I suspect socio-economic factors also play a role - Australian Jews are on average wealthier than Muslims or Sikhs, and thus more able to pay for security. It's also possible that the fact that Jews are indistinguishable in everyday life makes synagogues more vulnerable to random attacks, not less. If I want to attack a Muslim or Sikh, it's relatively easy to identify one on the street and then attack them when they're most vulnerable. (To be fair, most attacks on Sikhs are a result of people mistaking them for Muslims - actual anti-Sikh sentiment is quite rare.) However, if I want to attack a Jew, I need to go to a bit more effort to identify who's Jewish, and observing people going to synagogue is a good way to do that.
Eh, there was the mosque in Christchurch, NZ. That didn't have a cop out front, did it?
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
The nonprofit security grant program (NSGP) almost entirely goes to Jewish groups, including Synagogues. Jewish groups have recently lobbied for massive increases in these grants, which have been $275-305 million the past couple of years due to the lobbying by Jewish groups.
I also wrote a post about the ADL's "Day of Hate" hoax which directly coincided with a successful lobbying effort by ADL and other Jewish groups to massive increase the funding for that program.
That security outside the Jewish community center mentioned by OP is almost certainly paid for by DHS and American taxpayers.
From wiki:
This seems like an odd thing to do if the whole thing is a Jewish scam.
More options
Context Copy link
NGO corruption and special interests is not the same thing as what’s implied; at least theoretically the first Baptist church of wherever could get access to the NSGP, it’s just that Jews are better at skimming from the government by, like, a lot. The local government didn’t decide that the ‘Jewish student center’ is more important to protect than the Catholic Church, the ‘Jewish student center’ hired an off duty police officer with grant money that got laundered to it.
It’s politically convenient for both sides to pretend that largely nonexistent antisemitism is a major problem, but that doesn’t mean the government chooses Jews as winners over everyone else.
We do not know that at all. I'm sure there are a lot of Christian churches who would like handouts from the Federal government, you think they are just leaving money laying on the floor by not filling out applications?
Jews lobby for federal funds that almost entirely go to Jewish organizations, that is absolutely the government choosing Jews as winners over everyone else.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
In at least some cases, those are being paid for by the federal government through the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link