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 -
A few possibilities
Zuckerberg is a weather vane and just follows the vibe wherever it shifts. He is changing now just cause the vibe shifted. (sub-possibility 1: he shifts for the money. sub-possibility 2: he is legitimately just a sheep and follows the crowd)
Zuckerberg is a "censorious worm". Trump winning means he can't censor as much as wants anymore so he will lay low until he can censor again (alternatively, he will work with Trump to censor now that he is in power)
Zuckerberg, like many people in silicon valley, always had pro free speech leanings. However, since he was running a company he censored more than he wanted to. Eventually, he realized that censorship both isn't effective and the bar for what needs to be censored will continuously be raised, so, with the recent vibe shift, he reverted to his pro free speech stance.
Zuckerberg, like many Americans, had a genuine shift in belief. Similar to 3, but instead of him censoring more than he wanted to, he was actually convinced that he should censor more and that this time was justified. Eventually, like many other Americans, he realized censorship doesn't work, so he shifted back to pro free speech
Right now, I think possibility 4 is the most likely but maybe I'm just naive
More options
Context Copy link