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 -
There is some magic that occurs in debt collection. You can go through more and more layers additional sketchiness and eventually they just call it taxation.
A debt that is owed to "society" because you were born here. Services were sometimes rendered before you were born, and the debt is still being paid off. You get voice in what services are offered via voting, but if you don't vote you still owe money. And a candidate can lie about what they'll charge you to get your vote and suffer no consequences.
Any attempt to make these comparisons through a metaphor just make it sound like you are talking about a criminal syndicate.
And in case you didn't feel like you were taking crazy pills a majority of people think that this is a better and more fair way to pay for medicine.
Well, yeah. Organized crime is easier to deal with than disorganized crime.
That said, I wouldn't be against some of the proposals in this thread for laws forcing price transparency, since as another poster pointed out, veterinarians are able to do this, so there should be no reason human doctors or surgeons can't.
Organized crime is easier to deal with than disorganized crime until a point, at which point it becomes completely entangled with the state to the point of being either coup-complete or requiring intercession by some faraway as yet un-completely-corrupted power, as happened during the Italian anti-mafia campaigns where Rome was still able to exert some pressure on the completely corrupted Sicilian political system.
The US is lucky in a way in that mafias have been local enough and ethnic enough that control of institutions has been relatively limited and temporal.
The US has a comparatively unusual system where the Mafia became an arm of the state rather than the other way around.
More common than you think. Look at the relationship in Russia, or how the Yakuza used to assist the Japanese Government (they fell out after a government official was murdered and now the Yakuza is a shadow of what it was. But I heard that a lot of COVID restrictions were informally enforced by the Yakuza).
That would be surprising since I've heard that the great majority of Yakuza members are over 50 now.
I mean, it's Japan. This is one of the oldest countries in the world.
When I say ‘enforced’, I mean two people turning up and strongly implying that your late-closing bar is going to get a smashed window if you carry on this way. I doubt much physicality was required.
But yes, if you are a young, healthy, fighting man then the Yakuza are nearly all bark.
Fair enough, I'm not a business owner so I wouldn't know.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link