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 -
Of course, you still have individual sports. Our heroes and heroines can choose to try to git gud at swimming or running, with no other competitor than the clock. If they're successful, they make the team; the criteria are usually "who was fastest at the last race" with little room for subjectivity. Is it hard to become a decent runner starting from being mostly sedentary at 14? Yes, but I've seen it done plenty of times.
The problem is that having social sports essentially closed off to most normies is that it closes off a lot of social and health goods to people who are not sporty enough to even make a team at eight years old.
For socially awkward boys, participation in team sports allows them to socialize with other boys their own age, to develop social skills, and to develop self confidence in ways that few other activities can. Cutting off all but the most athletic players from basic participation in a social activity creates lonely and disaffected boys who grow up into lonely and disaffected men. Men who lack the confidence and social skills and status to succeed in dating, the job market, or anywhere else.
Then you have the same issue in general health. The youngsters who internalize the message that they just aren’t good at sports often end up living pretty sedentary lives and don’t bother to try something athletic. They then are much less healthy than they could be if they weren’t made self conscious about their ability to do athletic things. For every kid drummed out of little league in 4th grade, maybe 1 in ten would find ways to be active and fit later on.
As a matter of social goods, having kids participate in sports and thus learn to appreciate being active, develop social skills, and form friendships and community with neighbors is an important things to have, and tge destruction of that system is creating lots of problems for young men especially who need that system to properly socialize and to be healthy. Girls benefit from sport, but they often have other avenues for socialization and so it doesn’t affect them as much.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link