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 -
The Boer who have lived there for 400 years are effectively second class citizens.
They lost a part of France with a million ethnic French people that had been French for over a century.
There won't be any, it will be death by a thousand cuts.
There was no vast army of tanks that rolled into Rhodesia. Rhodesia fell because it was being hit constantly by endless insurgency.
Over two million Palestinian citizens. Also much of Israel is within range of being engaged by Palestine. Even Houthis have hit Israel twice from 2000 km away. Thinking that Israel can just ignore a large group of people 10s of km away is naive.
West bank to the sea is 20+ km. That is minimal strategic depth.
Israel isn't going to nuclearly destroy the west bank.
And yet still exist, and were not facing existential risk from invading armies.
And yet still exist, and were not facing existential risk from invading armies.
States don't face existential threat from a thousand cuts.
When overwhelming damage approaches existential threats, the polities responsible remain vulnerable to nuclear weapons.
Supported by states that would have been vulnerable to nuclear weapons.
The ethnic Arab citizens of Israel are neither Palestinians in the political sense of the Palestinian movement, nor are they an occupied or suppressed majority population.
Being 10s of kms outside the state is still outside the state, which continues to invalidate your attempted analogies to African majority-suppression states contexts.
Minimal is not a rebuttal of sufficient.
Why not, if the alternative is existential end? What's the punishment supposed to be- death?
Nor does that change that the Crusades were not a MAD context.
Israel could probably get a peacedeal with Hamas under the conditions the Boer were forced to accept. A large portion of white south africans were forced to leave.
Yes, that is what happened to Rhodesia and South Africa. It simply becomes impossible to have a functioning country in a constant state of war. Israel has a larger portion of its population mobilized than Ukraine, is deeply politically divided and is in a deep economic crisis.
Again, Israel isn't going to go nuclear for giving weapons. See Russia's response to Ukraine aid for example.
They are second class citizens in their own home.
Having two million people in the state and having the rest next door doesn't help more than gated communities in South Africa.
Moving somewhere else. They are effectively a nomadic homeless people anyway. It is a far better end than having this endless conflict.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link