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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 24, 2022

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I'm not for circumcising newborns.

And on paper stopping said practice is of concern, that's if you care about "human rights" in the abstract. However, I don't think anyone besides the 3 principled civil libertarians really does, and since new born males can't speak up about it and no interest group will fight for it, I wouldn't hold my breath. It costs too many weirdness points because of the current political climate.

The cultures that got it right might have gotten it right for reasons other than the one you want to get it right for.

What does it mean to care about this issue but not care about human rights? I care about making the world a better place, and ending infant circumcision would do that.

People should get in the habit of solving coordination problems. Yudkowsky, dath ilan, etcetera. The "weirdness points" thing is a coordination problem.

What does it mean to care about this issue but not care about human rights?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your question, but the answer seems obvious to me: someone could care about circumcision but not because of reasons relating to human rights. For example, someone could have an agenda against feminism and so go crusading about issues that affect men, in order to take conversation and public consciousness away from female-centric policy. I'm not saying you're doing that, just that it could be someone's motivation.

The poster you're replying to, I think, is saying that of all the human rights violations, circumcision just seems like such a silly hill to die on. Why spend much for little return value, instead of allocating effort to more fruitful violations? Hopefully in the future, circumcision won't cost so much to fix, or maybe once all the low-hanging fruit has been picked, then reach for circumcision.

and no interest group will fight for it,

Well I know of a few who are very vocal about it, and also even a few women. I think it's going to change over time, especially as the idea that it only started to prevent masturbation gets more widespread.