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 don't give a shit about America, at least, not more of an extent than America gives a shit about me, and I think what the Houthis are doing is terrible. Not on a wealth terms, but on a value destruction terms.
Wealth, at least in fiscal terms, is not my concern, and to Americans least of all given that they can just print their way out of it. But value, actual value, is fucked.
Real, genuine productivity not counted in dollars I believe is on a firm downtrend and inflating the money supply or bean counter supply doesn't have much to do with it. You can have as much money as you want but that won't turn one block of steel into two without a whole supply chain of people who are willing to mine, process and machine that block. By which count the Houthis are directly damaging value that exists in this chain and applying their own war tax on significant portions of the world economy.
If Egypt decided to use chemical weapons on the Houthis tomorrow, I wouldn't condone it. But I'd understand.
If various ecologically-inspired political parties decided to advocate for bombing Houthis, I'd understand as well. Fuel burned in global shipping is a significant contributor to climate change, and a lengthening of vessel trade routes and logistics chains stand to do more damage than several million lifetimes of plastic straws.
More options
Context Copy link