site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   33828 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 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.

4
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

You know what, since I've been summoned...

You know how virtually the only thing the FBI ever did (prior to persecuting their political opponents) was textbook entrapment? Talk some neuro divergent weirdo in their mom's basement into joining ISIS or committing a McVeigh style attack, sell them some fake (or real) materials to do it, and then immediately arrest them? Take a few victory laps proudly in public about how they caught another "terrorist" and they're doing such a good job keeping America safe. Then depending on whether they caught a white guy or a brown guy, one party or the other would grumble. And libertarians. Always the libertarians.

Isn't it weird how as often as the FBI does this, we've never heard about them accidentally letting someone they radicalized slip between the cracks and actually commit an atrocity? I mean, you'd have to assume it's happened at least once. Everyone fucks up eventually. Maybe it was Bob's last day and the hand off of his casework was just sloppy. And if I were the FBI, and that happened on my watch, I'd bury that shit as hard as I possibly could.

I think about that sort of thing a lot with the Trump shooter in Butler PA. Except minus the part about him accidentally slipping between the cracks after being radicalized. It would be remarkable with all the declassification and all the regime enemies in charge of intelligence if we ever find out. But given that google searches for "Bleach bit", "lawyers", "wipe hard drive" and "offshore bank" are exploding in DC, I suspect they have their tracks well covered. You know... were that the case.

Isn't it weird how as often as the FBI does this, we've never heard about them accidentally letting someone they radicalized slip between the cracks and actually commit an atrocity?

I've personally thought the Las Vegas shooting was caused exactly by this, but I confess I have no evidence beyond twisted Occam's Razor and the overbearing presence of federal law enforcement in the aftermath.

Isn't it weird how as often as the FBI does this, we've never heard about them accidentally letting someone they radicalized slip between the cracks and actually commit an atrocity? I mean, you'd have to assume it's happened at least once.

McVeigh described himself as the person whose fingers were slipped through originally to his attorneys. Of course, just one version of the narrative.

Isn't it weird how as often as the FBI does this, we've never heard about them accidentally letting someone they radicalized slip between the cracks and actually commit an atrocity?

1991 World Trade Center bombing. Draw Mohammed Day attack, stopped only by an off duty municipal cop who knew nothing about the FBI involvement. But yeah, probably there's been quite a few others they buried.

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