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 -
Fair! This is something I think is actually worthwhile to discuss. I also sometimes like political themes (Ghandi is one of my favorite movies, for instance). I'm less happy about politics being sprinkled on mermaid movies for kids, in the same way that Rick and Morty gesture at at the end of "Story Train" -- even if the writer has sincere beliefs, sticking them into your work is going to immediately derail it. (Same deal with the Hallmark channel -- there's a market for people who don't mind that kind of thing, but it's really off-putting to everybody else, and isn't likely to produce a lot of literary classics, because it ends up obliterating anything interesting you might have said.)
I suppose there's no accounting for poor production, but then I'm not sure that kids movies we had before the 2010s (or whenever we wanna draw the woke dividing line) were particularly well made. Sure there are outliers, but you've got to remember that most of that stuff is and always will be crap. Find the good ones and show those to your kids. And while you're at it, don't give them unfettered access to streaming platforms.
As for adults who make a habit of engaging online with children's mermaid films, time to put away childish things/etc. And similar story to Show Which Will Not Be Named, if you give it your time, Bigcorp wins.
"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -- C.S. Lewis.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link