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 -
The CNN headline on my tablet: "Trump Speech Interrupted by Secret Service." You couldn't make this shit up.
/images/17209123358050816.webp
AP: Shooting Being Investigated as Assassination Attempt. Wow, I wouldn't have guessed.
It's not like the actual coverage is evasive. They're being really straightforward. Just a goofy title.
It's improved a great deal in the last two hours, true enough.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
As someone on quipped; “If you hate these people, chances are you don’t hate them nearly enough.”
More options
Context Copy link
The story is an hour old, give it some time. Obviously CNN has a bias but they also don't want to fuck this up too bad.
You know they've got $$$ in their eyes knowing they can run on this for the next month.
You're not wrong, but the words "possibly" and "shooting" or something similar are meat and potatoes for clickable headlines. This just seems dubious. Plus fuck CNN for a thousand other reasons. I was at a place recently that for some reason had CNN running above the cashier counter. I don't think any Japanese person was paying attention as it was just the sound of talking heads in fast English for them and easily ignored. For me it was like a bombardment of progressive propaganda packaged so matter-of-factly that I literally couldn't stand there and listen to it. And I've voted Democrat in every election I've ever voted in. It's just mind-boggling how partisan they are.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
So the media is censoring assassination attempts now.
No matter whose fault this is, it's going to be bad for the left. Yeah, they can claim "it was right-wing" even if it is, but you can't get more right-wing than Trump specifically because of a concerted effort by said media.
The problem if it's not a right-wing actor that did this, doubly so if it's a Dem brownshirt, is that leftists are only really permitted [insured] property damage and the occasional murder as the contained scope of their violence. That is incompatible with also being the faction of murderdeathkill (and being able to call it murderdeathkill).
In any case, one more turn on the escalation spiral. Guess I should buy some primers; I'm sure they're about to sell out again.
Permitted by who? And why can't that change?
Doesn't an escalation spiral require two sides escalating? If the right doesn't escalate in response, is there a "spiral"?
More options
Context Copy link
What do you mean by this?
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
This sort of thing puts a pretty big dent in Scott’s (and Hanania’s) thesis that for all their faults, the mainstream media is the best place to find accurate factual knowledge about current events. An ex-President (and current candidate) came three inches away from assassination and CNN readers might come away with the impression that he was spooked by a little noise.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link