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 -
Trump isn't campaigning, conventionally. He's performing kingship. And people love their king.
When Trump visited the hurricane Helene devastation, he didn't say 'when I am elected my administration will release x gazillion dollars for flood relief'. No, his message was that he was already moving assets into place to help them. His strongest retainer was solving communications in the region and he had other vassals sending relief. Royals reassure their people.
Trump's pitch can be summed up as 'if only the tsar knew- put me on my rightful throne, because I'm the tsar who knows'. That's what the McDonald's shift was about, was empathizing with the commoners. He's got a claim on legitimacy from the 2020 stolen election that at the very least isn't any more spurious than descent from Amaterasu or Woden. And people know, intuitively on a pre-rational level, that the gods of the land are angry when the rightful king is usurped from his throne, and they know that the harvest will be poor and the weather bad and the kingdom's enemies stronger because of it. Joe Biden was not making a gaffe when he referred to the 'great MAGA king'.
Trump is a larger than life character playing a role in a storybook that's written in every human mind. There's the kingdom, torn asunder by turmoil(border chaos and inflation) and with foreign conflict(Gaza and Ukraine), ruled by usurpers(democrats) with the rightful prince(Trump), exiled and persecuted(felony convictions), supported by a handful of loyal barons(republican governors), and the viziers(Musk and RFK) who defect to him when it is clear that all is not well. And people listen to and believe in stories. Not economic analyses and statistics. If you want relentless popularity, treat math as a four letter word and imply a story.
I agree this is correct, but one thing that I note about the MAGA in General is that there is a vision, a purpose, he’s here to get the things done. Most other political people just don’t do that. They have a vision. They have policies maybe, but you never get the sense that they have any idea what the country is supposed to look like.
With Trump, whether you agree or not, has a vision. He wants the streets safe to walk down, a border that’s essentially closed, cheap food and gas and to have things made in America. His vision in short is American life looking like it did in 1960 or so.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link