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 -
This sounds reasonable, but I'm not sure I agree. Trump is not highly replaceable and this was the first serious attempt on his life.
It seems that the biggest protection that politicians have is that the average crazy person is not competent enough to get past Secret Service. I mean, this would-be Gavrilo Princip didn't exactly have the best plan either.
Of course he is. He's not even president. If he dies the GOP nominates Vance or DeSantis or Rubio or someone and the world keeps spinning.
The world keeps spinning if humans launch all their nuclear ordinance all at once.
The world keeps spinning if the moon explodes into dust and blocks out the sun.
If he dies, nothing is ever the same again. Nobody can replace him.
Presidential assassins aren't really all that rational. Famously, Lincoln being killed not only failed to win the Confederacy the war, but made Reconstruction worse for the South. The limited history we have all suggests it's often counterproductive.
What actual policy or other objective would killing Trump uniquely accomplish?
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
The only reason Trump is so hated is because he was unique and he destroyed the bipartisan consensus of 'let's just pretend to fight' while we let the bureaucracy drive the country into the ground.
He wasn't replaceable, and while Vance might be a good substitute now he is far less popular.-
I'm talking from the perspective of a serious adversary. An Iranian hit squad is not going to care at all about Trump's relationship to the bureaucracy or whatever, their problem is with America and it's not going away. So the only people you actually have to defend against are random kooks who want to impress Jodie Foster or something.
An Iranian hit squad may well care that they’ll get more concessions from a democrat.
Unless they get discovered and then it's like, literal war? Sounds like a bad bet.
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
Trump is relatively unique in this respect, though.
That's part of what makes him not highly replaceable.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link