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 -
So far the Russian responses have been very asymmetric, and I think their audience is US policymakers, not the public (in the US or Russia).
Very plausible the Russian response was the recent anchor-dragging to cut fiber-optic cables, or something else the public will never connect to Russia (like an industrial "accident" or cartels getting their hands on a batch of US surface-to-air missiles "via the Ukrainian black market.")
I think the obvious escalation here is that the houthi's suddenly sink a western military vessel in the red sea with far more advanced and accurate missiles. It's more symmetrical, you strike us via a proxy, we strike you via a proxy. It also has the added benefit for Russia of shifting US and the public's focus more to the middle east which a lot of the zionists in the incoming administration already seem to be focused on.
Oh and there will be some big conventional missile launch pummeling the last remaining bits of Ukraine's industry and electrical grid of course.
Yep, 100% agree with this – I guess the Red Sea "feels" asymmetric to me inasmuch as it's another theater entirely, but you're right that it's very much the same game we're playing in Ukraine.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
A source of mine in federal law enforcement claims the cartels already regularly get their hands on brand-new current Russian issue weaponry. This is probably due to corruption, rather than Russian policy, but it still wouldn’t be much of an escalation to give them weapons.
Sure, if they want to hurt Mexico. For reasons discussed elsewhere in the thread, the cartels don't want to get into a shooting war with US law enforcement.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link