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 -
The Chinese may be smart but they're uninspired robots was always finest grade copium. It turns out that in the end whites as a race are certifiably mid and they don't take the news of this very well.
EDIT: I protest this ban. I sincerely mean what I say here and don't think calling whites mid as a race is even an insult, it would only be perceived as such by someone who puts particular pride in the race they were born into by chance. Had I said blacks as a race are mid nobody would have raised even a peep (and fwiw, my opinion of whites is higher than my opinion of blacks).
I'm not joking or trolling here. Seriously considering decamping off to Twitter at this moment (would have been Bluesky because I think the algorithm there is better, but alas, like for lots of other things, the worst thing about Bsky is the people there).
Also:
Really proving the point of my statement with that ban.
I think he's got a point, and the ban was retarded. The funny part is that he made the same slightly catty remarks about white identity people that certain mods do, it was apparently just the wrong kind of catty.
More options
Context Copy link
Come on, man. You're living in a city built by ethnic Britons, and you've been on record relishing their demographic demise as you enjoy the institutions they built. It gives people the creeps and you know it.
More options
Context Copy link
Okay, you're back to baiting. You've been told about this before. A lot.
I'm kind of torn on what to do here. You're a long-timer who many people enjoy reading, you have interesting perspectives, and you've earned one (but only one) AAQC.
On the other hand, you seem to always just be biding your time until you can unload more sneering at "mayos." I am not fond of people who are only here to shit on the people they hold in contempt, who are just itching to let those people know how much contempt they hold them in.
You are overall someone who probably is a net positive here, as annoying as you are, but you've got a long rap sheet, and the last few bans have been of increasing length, with notes that this is your "final warning" and you probably deserve a permaban next time. In fact, at one point you were permabanned but enough members spoke up in your favor that we reduced it to 20 days.
That was four bans ago.
Most people would have been permabanned by now. You probably should be permabanned. You do seem to have a pattern of toning it down for a while after you return from a ban, but you don't really learn your lesson, because the seething contempt is always boiling just below the surface.
Against my better judgment, I'm only banning you for 90 days. (That was your last ban length also.) This comment in itself was pretty mild, it's just that it's the kind of comment you make over and over and over again every time you think you can get away with some more baiting.
Next time will probably depend on which mod deals with you, but I will have no mercy.
ETA: Post-ban editing to whine about the ban IMO deserves a permaban, but I'll throw it to the other mods to decide if they want to shorten it.
Dude, accusing me of all people here of feeling some sort of white ethnic defensiveness is both ridiculous and proves you just meant to insult people. I don't care if you think I, personally, am "mid" because of my mayo pallor, but you are not allowed to just throw generalized insults at your racial outgroup.
You know this is not true. People say shit about whites, blacks, Jews, and Indians all the time here, but just dumping on an entire race because you want to express your contempt has always been modded.
Another (probably irrelevant) plea for some degree of clemency when it comes to BC, if only because while provocative he adds some interesting ideological diversity IMO. OTOH I recognise that being a mod is a thankless task and you've had to put up with him for longer than I've enjoyed him.
More options
Context Copy link
I think mods should either be AAQC-blind or make it explicit in the rules that if one has "good contributions", one can get away with blatant asking-for-it shitlording.
We have never been AAQC-blind and we've always been explicit that good contributors get more slack. The slack is finite, though. We've banned people with tons of AAQCs for repeated shitlording.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
90 days is already very harsh, please do not permaban him.
More options
Context Copy link
Can't we reach a compromise in which he's not banned, but we're free to call him a Jeet?
This is the sort of diplomacy most international conflicts are sorely missing.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I like having BurdensomeCount around, and would be sad to see him banned.
My opinion probably doesn't count for all that much, but I like to think I'm one of the relatively more measured users here.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Mid by what metric, pray tell?
Intelligence, creativity, humour, how good they look after age 30, you name it etc. etc.
True creativity comes through working with constraints imposed like China (be it sanctions or cost pressure or whatever). Unconstrained problems are often underdetermined which means every midwit can find their own "unique" solution which then lets them pretend they are special.
In case you're banned, I suppose you can't reply to this. But I will have to disagree that whites are mid.
Most of the giants of humanity (Einstein, Tesla, Hawking, any "great person") were white. This is a good marker of intelligence. Asians are better at rote memorization, but that is a very bad marker of higher intelligence, and it's mostly a result of spending 40% more hours studying on average.
I will have to disagree with creativity too when it means "originality" due to the collectivist nature of Asia. If you mean "artistic skills" however, I will have to agree with you, asians win.
Working with constraints results in creativity for everyone. There's a reason why writers block mostly occur as a result of a blank page. This is how the human mind works, and it's merely a coincidence that the Chinese are more restrained at the moment.
As for "How good the look after age 30", I mostly agree, but it doesn't seem very related to other metrics.
Classifying Einstein as white is somewhat controversial (at least around these sorts of places)
I see, I just went by skincolor. If possible, I don't want to overcomplicate things by taking "jews are in a super-position of white and non-white, collapsing to the state which benefits them the most at any given time" seriously. Genetically they might be a little different, though, I'm even open to the idea that jews are objectively superior in some sense (e.g. often intelligent), but I think they're also inferior in others. The use of deception is an indicator that one has difficulties competing fairly, after all.
Despite being white I don't care that much if another race is "superior" though, the only hill I'm willing to die on is that "mid" is too harsh an assessment
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I assume you mean 'rote memorization'. Unless there's studies about Chinese pathfinding ability.
Oops, yeah, thanks! But if you use the Method of Loci, you can technically have both!
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Okay, now I see you were joking, good thing I decided to check before sperging out with a serious rebuttal
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link