site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   12374 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 20, 2025

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.

5
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I am mildly impressed

>Extoll the virtues of Javazons, but pretend its an in universe Bard

Ballad of the Storm's Daughter
(As sung by Elowyn the Wandering Lyrist, beside the campfires of Harrogath)

Hark! Gather ‘round, ye seekers of tale,
Where shadows loom deep and dark rivers wail—
Let verse take wing ‘cross the frostbitten vale,
To sing of a warrior whom storms themselves hail!

Behold the Javazon—Tempest in form!
Her arm bears the javelin, her soul, the storm.
When Hell’s hordes advance, thick as thorns,
She laughs, and the sky cracks where lightning is born.

See now her fury—! A flash ‘cross the fen,
A throw splits the silence… then thunder again!
From one gleaming shaft, ten thousand forks rend—
Demons fall ash, ere their curses can end.

Charged Strike! —Her spear kisses foe, and behold:
A lord of the Pit, once so dread, so bold,
Now dances, a puppet of arcs uncontrolled,
His crown now a pyre, his flesh turned to gold.

Swift as the zephyr, she treads where she wills,
No armor confines her, no peril instills.
The Valkyrie’s cry in her wake echoes shrill—
A sister-in-arms forged by heaven’s own skill.

Titan’s Revenge flies, returns to her hand,
A cycle unbroken, like tides to the land.
Each scar she bears, a hymn to the stand
‘Gainst Baal’s creeping blight, ‘gainst Diablo’s red brand.

Oh, heed not the whispers of bow, sword, or spell—
When the skies duel the earth, none contend with her well.
In the chaos of battle, where light’s citadel fell,
She is the breaker… and the heavens’ last knell.

So raise high your ale, to the Storm’s chosen daughter!
To the bolts bound in flesh, to the slaughter wrought hotter.
When the End Days take shape, and all hope seems but water,
Look east—there she stands. And the darkness… shall falter.

I'd like to see "the infinite blink server crasher Temporalis build but it's a cautionary lullaby" now. Although I doubt it's in the dataset yet.

Some flavors of the Forbidden Build should be old enough.

In fact I just asked out of curiosity and R1 was able to figure out and explain how wardloop works with minimal nudging on my part, even just explicitly calling it "wardloop" was enough. I like how it shows the thinking process, very cute.

"Now, Jarvis, tell me how the Chinese dupe mirrors."

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats