site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 23, 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.

6
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I care when people say that whites should be discriminated against or disadvantaged, because I'm white.

And so should you. That's why "no discrimination against any group for any quality" is the right answer. The law should be blind to arbitrary class categories.

The actual, current black community, or whoever they choose or designate from among that community.

Why do you think such a "community" exists? So far there's no any indication of it. Black separatists do exist, but they are tiny and vast majority of black people has no idea who they are and if they do, they do not support them. If there would be a unified black community that would show interest in separatism, there could be some discussion about it, but what's the point of discussing making deals with entities that are entirely imaginary?

No one of any race has to go there, at all, ever.

So why anybody would? Why they don't just stay right where they are and keep demanding reparations from the US? What is going to stop them?

That would be for them to sort out.

What do you mean by "them"? The US just declares on 1.1.XXXX the US laws stop working in Atlanta? That's not what any lawful framework in the US could ever allow. And I don't see how it wouldn't just invite Sinaloa cartel (or anybody else quick on their feet) to capture the territory by force and not give a whistle about your racist paradise plans at all?

We check goods at the border and confiscate contraband.

You know how well it works on Mexican border, where the counterparty is the actual functioning government that kinda wants to help us with that? Now imagine how well it would work when the government on the other side actually actively wants it not to happen. You will confiscate exactly nothing and you will have zero control over it.

The rest of your questions seem to be predicated on people being forced to live in such a zone

If any of the populated area is turned into the racist paradise, the people living there would be forced to either live there or lose their homes, jobs, social environments etc. Why would they agree to that? Say, why Oprah would want to live in this racist paradise enclave, if she's already a billionaire in America? I think she'd certainly prefer keep living in America - as she does. If there would be any desire on the part of the black Americans to live in something like that, black separatism wouldn't be a political nonstarter. Yet, it is.

Moreover, why limit ourselves to American blacks? There are millions of people who already enjoy this deal - living in a places where US does not control it, and doing whatever they want there, mostly. Yet, we are witnessing millions of them, day after day, at great personal expense and risk, to try to get into America and stay there. Why do you think black Americans - who already enjoy full citizenship right, full access to welfare services, significant representation in all power structures and undying admiration of at least one powerful political movement - would want a worse deal than Haitian blacks want? I see no evidence and no logical reason why they would, and this makes this whole scheme doomed and useless.

so you need to give them a demonstration of good faith,

How do you know they'd take it as a demonstration of good faith? I don't see any indication from them that they would. Again, black separatism is not exactly popular, and if people understood what it actually means - e.g. losing all access to all the welfare state goodies, US citizen benefits, etc. - it's be even less popular. If they think US is built mostly by their ancestors (let's no argue how true it is but assume that's what they think) but they aren't getting their fair share of it, how giving them a soon-to-be-shithole area and absolving ourselves of any responsibility of what happens there would sound like a good deal? They want a fair share of everything, not some scraps that somebody decided to throw to them and lock them out of the rest.

Why do you think such a "community" exists?

Because I observe it existing at this very moment. There is a significant number of black people who believe that they are being harmed by my tribe in particular, and that we will continue harming them until they and their allies have all the power and we have none. This is encouraged by Blue Tribe, who amplify such claims to distract from the consequences of the power that they have exercised for decades. "Black Sepratists" are beside the point; the system is not aimed at them, it's aimed at people demanding dominance over our current society. The point is to seperate "control over themselves" from "control over me", to highlight and isolate those for whom the later is in fact the actual point. Further, it highlights the degree to which this has already happened; how Blue enclaves already are not constrained to any great degree by Red preferences or institutional markers.

I am pretty sure that if you established a new political zone with with no practical limits on policy and a significant guaranteed cash flow to anyone willing to form a government, a fair number of people would be lining up to give it a shot. If Oprah wasn't interested, BLM would, and if not them, some black-fronted libertarians. Depending on who was running it and how, I might be willing to move there.

The point of the thought experiment is to try to imagine what it would actually look like to take their concerns seriously and give them as much of what they say they want as possible, while insulating the rest of us from any harmful effects that might result. Given that they are observably pushing schemes such as absolute racial dictatorships, "reparations" to the tune of dozens of trillions of dollars, and the complete overthrow of our justice system, I see no harm in exploring less-insane portions of the possibility space.

So why anybody would? Why they don't just stay right where they are and keep demanding reparations from the US? What is going to stop them?

Nothing, of course. but rhetorically, the point would be proving that they do, in fact, prefer to stay where they are and demand reparations, when this would satisfy their stated goals much better for much cheaper.

If any of the populated area is turned into the racist paradise, the people living there would be forced to either live there or lose their homes, jobs, social environments etc.

Offer them compensation for moving if they wish to move, and likewise for people who wish to move in. Expensive, sure, but a fraction of the cost of some of Kendi's proposals.

What do you mean by "them"?

The blacks who freely choose to move there and establish local government.

The US just declares on 1.1.XXXX the US laws stop working in Atlanta?

Yes. Why should they be forced to live under white supremacist institutions, when it would be so easy to simply not do that? What harm is caused to the rest of us if Atlanta gets to make its own laws as it sees fit?

It seems like you are not grasping the principle here. I have no terminal interest in controlling the lives of my outgroup or my fargroup. If black people or Blue Tribers don't like being ruled by me, it is straightforwardly in my interest to facilitate an amicable separation whereby they do their thing in their area and I do my thing in my area and we simply leave each other alone. I may think their thing is awful, but if they're not willing to work with me and they're not willing to change, it is much better for permit them to do their awful thing somewhere far from me, rather than trying to force them to do things my way. I do not want to be ruled by people who hate me, but neither do I wish to rule people who hate me.

It is useful to frame the conversation this way, because some people really do seem to want to rule their outgroup, apparently as a terminal goal. Others believe that simply leaving each other alone is impossible, which amounts to the same thing. When discussing and organizing politics, it seems quite important to me to have a firm understanding on which people are genuinely just trying to be left alone, and which mean to rule.

You know how well it works on Mexican border, where the counterparty is the actual functioning government that kinda wants to help us with that?

In that case, I submit that since we already have a thousand-mile border with a giant uncontrollable narco-state, adding another, much smaller narco-state won't actually make the problem all that much worse.

If any of the populated area is turned into the racist paradise, the people living there would be forced to either live there or lose their homes, jobs, social environments etc. Why would they agree to that?

For the same reason they agreed to letting BLM and antifa burn their cities, I'd imagine: stupid virtue signaling, purity spirals, and a maniacal commitment to Progressive ideology. The prize would be too big for the Black Community to coordinate refusal, and acceptance would be too-well rewarded for the rest of the Progressive movement to withstand the incentive gradient.

Say, why Oprah would want to live in this racist paradise enclave, if she's already a billionaire in America?

She probably wouldn't. But I bet once it got rolling, she'd be interested in trying to steer it toward good outcomes. Ditto for Obama.

If there would be any desire on the part of the black Americans to live in something like that, black separatism wouldn't be a political nonstarter.

It's a political non-starter because it is so obviously all downside. The point is to formulate the minimum viable upside to make it attractive not to people like you, but specifically to the sort of person who genuinely believes that our society is shot through with racism and white supremacy. Hence the financial incentives created by giving the zone a guaranteed cashflow and guaranteed political autonomy.

Moreover, why limit ourselves to American blacks? There are millions of people who already enjoy this deal - living in a places where US does not control it, and doing whatever they want there, mostly.

Those places don't enjoy the advantages of being a literal part of America, which this state would. They also don't enjoy guaranteed, no-strings-attached cashflow from the US federal government, which this place also would. Their citizens couldn't return to the US at will, which this state's citizens could.

It's easy to propose some sort of mean-spirited deportation scheme under some level of veiling. The point of this is to actually explore the degree to which their preferences could actually be satisfied without unacceptable costs to the rest of us, and to explore what costs are actually "unacceptable".

Why do you think black Americans - who already enjoy full citizenship right, full access to welfare services, significant representation in all power structures and undying admiration of at least one powerful political movement - would want a worse deal than Haitian blacks want?

Americans of any color who chose to move to this state would still enjoy full citizenship rights in the colorblind US, to which they could return at any time, and full access to welfare services (guaranteed when outside the zone under colorblind law, and inside it depending on the laws they collectively write). Black Americans who chose to do so would have significantly greater representation in local power structures, and to the degree that they have no control over national power, they also are granted complete immunity from it within their border. Nor is there any reason to suppose that Blues would stop admiring them. There is no hook or secret gotcha here for the occupants.

and if people understood what it actually means - e.g. losing all access to all the welfare state goodies, US citizen benefits, etc.

My offer is specifically designed to avoid costing them these things, unless they themselves chose to reject them, which I absolutely do not expect them to do.

I see no evidence and no logical reason why they would, and this makes this whole scheme doomed and useless.

If Blue Tribe offered me a deal like this, a city or a small state with existing infrastructure, a significant guaranteed cashflow, and complete freedom from their political and social interference, where the government could only be held by, say, Gun Culture types or Christians, and where we could live under whatever laws we prefer, I would move there in a heartbeat. And again, this is another point of the exercise: to generate a sincere, good-faith offer to your opposites that you yourself would take if the positions were reversed, to explore the degree to which compromise is possible even in principle.

If they think US is built mostly by their ancestors (let's no argue how true it is but assume that's what they think) but they aren't getting their fair share of it, how giving them a soon-to-be-shithole area and absolving ourselves of any responsibility of what happens there would sound like a good deal?

I see no reason why they would believe that it would be a soon-to-be-shithole. I expect it to turn into a shithole because I believe that shitholes are what their ideology reliably produce, but I'm happy to be proven wrong. And I'm not "absolving myself" of responsibility; I'm offering them the chance to take responsibility, because the ability of Blacks and Blues to shirk responsability for their own actions and decisions is a huge part of the problem we're stuck with. I would be happy to take a deal like this offered to my tribe, even if the people offering it did so with the full expectation that my ideology would result in an immediate shithole, because I think they're wrong.

On the other hand, I'd be fascinated to hear why those offered this deal in good faith would reject it, because it would seem to me that rejecting it would be a tacit admission that they know on some level that my tribe is right, that their ideology would in fact create a shithole, and that they are in fact dependent on my tribe to cover for their excesses and abuses.