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 key difference is Russia is, and always was, going to win this war absent direct military intervention by a large coalition of other countries which they're not going to do
nor would they really be capable of it anyway, e.g., I doubt the British could even raise a single equipped deployed division (likely struggle to even get 2 brigades) let alone supply it for more than 90 days let alone provide enough ammo if engaged for more than a couple weeks let alone replace wounded and killed soldiers
for some comparison, Ukraine lost an entire division of men defending Bakmut, a small fortified town in Donetsk
Trump is "picking the Russian side" because the alternative is a Russian victory anyway and an even more shattered Ukraine with an even more butchered population. Getting the Russians to stop now with only the the land they've already legally inducted into the federation and a guarantee Ukraine will never join NATO would be a feat and likely require some sort of comprehensive agreement (perhaps even a treaty) between Russia and the US.
the lunatic British establishment and the anti-Russia ethnics at the State Department who want every man, woman, and child to die in wave attacked against Russian invaders and still lose are on Team Ukraine
and yes, the rest of us can judge each party accordingly
the levels of tut-tut nagging, moralizing and demands by keyboard generals about other people's valor and sacrifice has hopefully reached its peak for a while
More options
Context Copy link