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 if they ran one of the moderate governors like Shapiro or Beshear they would clean up. A lot of people viscerally hate Trump and a competent, clean cut white guy who can win over a swing state and doesn’t have any woke baggage would really flip the tables on the GOP imo.
When was the last time the dems even ran a guy like that? Kerry in 04 is the last one that kind of fits the bill. Put somebody like that against Trump and it’s over.
Of course this is assuming the Dems do the smart thing instead of trying to throw Kamala up there (Political seppuku)?
I have to admit that I haven't really followed either, but has either delivered on the promise to be a moderate in the way that a Governor like Larry Hogan did? Biden in 2020 was able to sell the illusion of moderation largely because he had huge name ID from being VP, no recent record (since he hadn't done anything meaningful in 12 years), and the special circumstances of the covid campaign that let him run a sort of blank slate campaign with few rallies/appearances. As the infamous Maury Povich meme would say, "That was a lie." And a big reason Joe isn't +10 on Trump despite being old and declining is because it was a lie. If the Joe we were sold in 2020 actually was governing, inflation would never have spiked as hard as it did, there wouldn't be naked activists in White House photo ops, we'd only have one super embarrassing female Supreme Court Justice, there wouldn't be an embarrassing collapsed bridge in the Mediterranean intended to supply terrorists with stuff, etc etc.
So are Shapiro and Beshear really moderates? Have they let through 20+ week abortion bans? Have they let fracking happen when they had the chance to stop it? Have they stopped people trying to trans the kids?
The problem with running a "moderate" no one knows about is you have to establish their moderate bona fides. And usually this ends up being a lie. Sure, sometimes a real moderate like Romney or McCain gets the nomination, but they lose that luster pretty quickly when the Eye of Sauron is on them. And I have a suspicion that for relatively unknown Democrat governors, there will be little in actual evidence of being moderate.
More options
Context Copy link
So... Manchin?
More options
Context Copy link
I wouldn't count Kerry. Gore probably.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link