site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 2, 2024

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.

5
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

They have done an excellent job at resisting the catastrophic neo-con policies that have swamped Europe with refugees and let jihadists run amok in the middle east.

Iran has colossal numbers of Afghan refugees and has the same issues with them that European countries do. You spout DR memes without even understanding the countries you discuss.

let jihadists run amok in the middle east

What about funding Houthi Islamists whose flag says ‘Death to America’ serves Western foreign policy aims in Yemen? Since MBS’ ascension Saudi funding to Wahhabi Islamist mosques abroad has been in any case dramatically curtailed, this isn’t 2014.

Iran has colossal numbers of Afghan refugees

Whose fault is that? They didn't create the Taliban and then fight the Taliban for 20 years.

says ‘Death to America’ serves Western foreign policy aims in Yemen?

What do they mean by death to America? I don't think they mean death to ordinary Americans. They mean death to neoliberal imperialists.

I have no issue with them delivering death to people who are trying to infect the Middle East with gender studies and push millions of migrants into Europe. I consider the people who participated in the wars in the middle east absolute traitors well deserving of the Houthis are delivering.

It serves an important foreign policy goal, kicking the globalists out of the middle east.

What do they mean by death to America? I don't think they mean death to ordinary Americans. They mean death to neoliberal imperialists.

This made me chuckle IRL

"The leopards eating faces party surely don't want to eat my face, just the faces of my outgroup!"

Again why are they not saying death to Brazil? Death to China or death to Iceland? Why specifically the US?

What do they mean by death to America? I don't think they mean death to ordinary Americans. They mean death to neoliberal imperialists.

I am sure you would not apply this level of charity to Israelis chanting anti-Palestinian or anti-Muslim slogans.

When people are burning flags and chanting death to a country, they are not making a distinction between "neoliberal elites" and ordinary citizens of that country. It would not even be completely unreasonable to point out that if you think the "neoliberal elites" deserve death, then the people who vote for them and pay taxes to their regime are complicit. This was the justification for 9/11 and basically every other terrorist attack on American soil or against American civilians and military personnel.

When people say "Death to ____," they mean Death to ____, not some abstract and nuanced political objection to ____'s current political leadership.

I have no issue with them delivering death to people who are trying to infect the Middle East with gender studies

Which universities in the Middle East are pushing Western gender studies courses? Would love to know how those are going.

In mild, mild fairness, I could imagine that, like with North Koreans, the modal Iranian might carry much less hatred towards an ordinary American in isolation compared to the totality, but that probably doesn't scale well.

There is no such thing as ‘globalists’, only competing factions seeking to expand their own (global) influence. Why are one side globalists but the other not? Islam is an inherently ‘globalist’ ideology, how could it not be?

Of course, if you're determined to be charitable you will interpret any "death to [country]" chant as a desire to merely rid it of the bad elites in a manner surgical enough to not kill the entire country, or at least large amounts of countrymen. However, it does not appear to work out that way often.

For the record, I think that when someone says "death to America", they are not aiming to be very discriminate about it if given the chance.

I'm also curious if you'd extend the same charity to the domestic extremists who say "death to AmeriKKKa".

Of course, if you're determined to be charitable you will interpret any "death to [country]" chant as a desire to merely rid it of the bad elites in a manner surgical enough to not kill the entire country, or at least large amounts of countrymen. However, it does not appear to work out that way often.

Why are they chanting death to America and not death to Iceland, Zimbabwe or Uruguay? It is clear that they are motivated by the absolutely abhorrent policies that american impoerialists have imposed on them. They are fighting the same military industrial complex that is a cancer on western societies.

I'm also curious if you'd extend the same charity to the domestic extremists who say "death to AmeriKKKa".

A lot of that crowd seem to be actively pushing the same wokeness as the people trying to impose gender studies on Afghans. If they strictly meant the NSA, black rock and Lockheed Martin I would support it. If they want to impose all sorts of wokeness then I don't support it.

Why are they chanting death to America and not death to Iceland, Zimbabwe or Uruguay? It is clear that they are motivated by the absolutely abhorrent policies that american impoerialists have imposed on them. They are fighting the same military industrial complex that is a cancer on western societies.

This is extremely naive. The same people will happily make terror attacks in arbitrary non-majority muslim countries they can get into, in fact even in majority muslim countries against non-muslim minorities.

The same people will happily make terror attacks in arbitrary non-majority muslim countries they can get into

How did they get into western Europe? They came because of the wars. Bombing Libya opened up the borders, Syria was a disaster for Europe.

The US sponsored jihadists in Syria and Libya. The west isn't fighting against jihadists as much as the west is fighting stable pan relatively secular states. The trillions wasted fighting "terrorism" in the middle east didn't stop terrorism, it made it much worse.

When the Iraqis kicked the Americans out the refugee waves stoped coming. That means less terrorism here.

How did they get into western Europe?

They immigrated.

It is clear that they are motivated by the absolutely abhorrent policies that american impoerialists have imposed on them.

I'd be more concerned by what they'll do, not what they're motivated by. Generally, fighting a country's military-industrial complex in any meaningful manner is not good for that country. Unless, of course, you're losing badly and are just feeding your soldiers to the enemy's weapon industry.

I think you're displaying the same naivete here that the Russian progressives do when they assume that the West, if it crushes Russia, will only kill Putin and let the planet heal.

I'd be more concerned by what they'll do, not what they're motivated by

When the military industrial complex 10x Afghan heroin production while trying to bring "women's rights" - aka fat women with blue hair using tinder the taliban dealt with them.

When the military industrial complex killed a million Iraqis, wrecked the christian population of Iraq and drove a million Iraqis into Europe they made believers in the second amendment proud.

I think you're displaying the same naivete here that the Russian progressives do when they assume that the West

The difference is, we lose exactly nothing by ending the wars for wokeness in the Middle East and migrants to Europe.

to a Isreali woman's right to choose not to be raped

What about European women's right not to be raped by the migrants IsraAID is bringing into Europe? What about the christians in the middle east that are being destroyed by the hostile nation of Israel?

....

I have no issue with them delivering death to people who are trying to infect the Middle East with gender studies and push millions of migrants into Europe.

...

wars for wokeness in the Middle East

Most of your participation in this thread has been unimpressive. You are generally just stating that you don't like certain groups. And then describing things in ways that sound more like waging the culture war than sharing any useful information.

This needs to not be how you engage. Its obnoxious. If you can be replaced by a button that just responds every time with "I hate [my outgroup]" then you are failing to participate and engage in a valuable way.

This is a warning. Next time will be temp bans.

No, I am saying that Israel is a disaster for Europe and a huge burden on us with few benefits. The whole neo con project has caused endless issues and I openly support all resistance to it.

This doesn't give me a lot of hope for you. You are basically doing the same thing again, and I'm not even here to argue about the object level disagreement.

More comments