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 -
To put it bluntly, the recent explosion of immigration to Canada is a naked attempt at keeping the ponzi scheme that is Canadian real estate inflated. The exact mechanisms aren't really important.
The LMIA and TFW program:
Canadian corporations can hire TFW (temporary foreign workers) by submitting a LMIA (labor market impact assessment). The LMIA is supposed to show that the relevant position could not be filled with a domestic Canadian. Of course, this program was rife with fraud. Corporations would put up fake job postings that were unable to be accessed, then use their vacancy as justification for hiring TFW. The foreign workers themselves would pay for an LMIA by paying immigration lawyers to fill an LMIA for them; those lawyers would then garnish their wages. Sometimes, the business owners themselves would act as "immigration lawyers", essentially paying TFWs below market rates. Also, foreign workers would sometimes simply pay for an LMIA for an entirely fake job, in order to migrate to Canada. This entire scheme was a way for Indians to escape to Canada from India.
Diploma Mills:
Foreign post-secondary students pay much more than domestic students in Canada. So, some fraudulent colleges have popped up offering extremely weak diplomas in "hospitality" and "business management", for the express purpose of luring in foreign students, mostly Indians. Side note: Its not just new colleges doing this. Well established colleges have also dumbed down their programs and purposefully admitted huge amounts of foreign students just to juice their profits. Now why would Indians enroll in such blatantly fraudulent programs? Why as a means of immigration of course. Foreign students (again, mostly Indian), enroll in this programs, then cheat, or skip class in order to work.
All of this is a way to attain permanent residency, and then eventually Canadian citizenship, all the while inflating the housing market and depressing wages. By the way, this doesn't even begin to cover the bribes, and fake job offers used to bolster permanent residency applications, or the fact that the points requirement got significantly lowered by the present administration.
More options
Context Copy link