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 -
People on food stamps can’t plan an optimized fitness diet either, but ‘have a ration of dairy/meat/veggies and then eat potatoes until you’re full’ is 10,000x better than what they’re currently eating, and they do have the capacity for that. Some African peasants would figure it out in about five minutes.
I can go on and on about underclass diets- they’re truly terrible- but money isn’t the issue. I remember working construction(designated bilingual guy on a white crew)and packing a lunch- nothing weird about that, lots of coworkers did- but I was considered unusual for bringing oranges, bananas, whatever in it. Some of the other guys brought sandwiches, but for most the healthiest thing was chips- and bananas are significantly cheaper than a bag of chips, cheaper than the candy and snack cakes that rounded out their lunches too. If we stopped at QT I would get a slice of pizza or a egg roll with a coke and the others got candy bars and donuts with an energy drink.
There are broad cross sections of the population that have just lost the social technology of eating a balanced diet. Not even healthy- balanced. In the mid 2010’s you could live in the US on Mexican wages- I did it- and eat a balanced diet based around potatoes, the cuts of meat Americans throw away, flour, the cheapest vegetables, etc. Poor Americans don’t do this. People from middle income countries know how to do this. Poor Americans don’t, unless they’re Hispanic and their parents/grandparents tell them.
Seriously, ‘buy bulk carbs and then add the luxury food(meat, vegetables, etc) your budget allows’ is common sense for the majority of the world’s population. But the poor in America have forgotten how to do this, and usually how to cook for themselves, and usually what a balanced diet even looks like- they drink energy drinks for breakfast, have snack cakes, soda, candy for the rest of the day unless they work at a restaurant and get a shift meal(when I lived among them you could also have added alcohol, but that’s increasingly being displaced by weed). You can’t fix this by giving them more money.
More options
Context Copy link