site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   28496 thread views

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
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

This isn't my idea, I don't think it's a particularly good idea, and I have serious doubts that it will work to do much of anything, but the big brains in Japan have a plan to actually pay single women cash to leave Tokyo and marry men in rural areas. Presumably this will also get the lusty fires burning as these gals subsequently produce offspring.

This seems like the bizarre idea of a bunch of old men in a conference room, yes.

The "plan" was dropped after two days:

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15409288

There's a phrase Onna gokoro wa wakaranai. (女心はわからない) which roughly translates to "(You) don't understand a woman's heart." Usually used as a retort when behavior causes a feeling of feminine revulsion but the reasons why are either too obvious or too vague to explain.

(You may know this phrase of course; I routinely underestimate people's knowledge of Japanese.)

In this case it might be said to the Japanese government, to no one's surprise.

Japanese politics never ceases to disappoint me. How things got so bad used to be a mystery until I began working for a Japanese company. "Wait, the entire society is just one gigantic bureaucratic logjam?" "Always has been."

It would be a lot cheaper to simply send a troublesome population Up To The Mountains And Down To The Countryside...

Please no, rent is already increasing enough out here as it is.

Wow, rents in the Japanese countryside are going up? Is the housing stock there finally decaying faster than the population, or have people been moving back out for retirement?

There are varying degrees of countryside. We live within several hours of a tier 1 city, and covid outmigration put upward pressure on rents. If you live somewhere tucked away in a valley 12+ hours away by train from any major city, rent is probably stable.

But you also have to consider that housing that's >20 years old (a generous estimate) is essentially condemnable in the minds of the Japanese public, so when there's upward rent pressure, it's on a small fraction of the housing market (recent construction) which magnifies the effect. I've seen apartments near the station in my medium sized town, which is in a prefecture that does not border a metropolis, that are now asking near the same rent as in the suburbs of a metropolis. Truly nowhere is safe in developed countries.

Apologies in advance for typos as I'm enjoying some fine sake this evening.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats