site banner
ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   45539 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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.

106
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Cheating in a low-stakes way is a far cry from the "social or moral transgressions" of cheating in a high stakes way.

I disagree with this analysis. In my experience how someone behaves in low-stakes scenarios is more illustrative of character than high-stakes. The question is "do you refrain from cheating because you value honesty" vs "do you refrain from cheating because you're afraid of getting caught". While similar in outcome they are not the same. The latter warrants a scrutiny that the former does not.

See also the old 4chan copy/pasta about how a shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether someone is capable of self-government.

In my experience how someone behaves in low-stakes scenarios is more illustrative of character than high-stakes

The extreme end of this line of thinking is that anyone who commits small infractions like driving 1mph over the speed limit is giving a clear indication that they're willing to commit the most serious crimes, like murder. Obviously this isn't true. The distance between previous crimes and the current allegations matter, e.g. if a person has a long history of violently attacking people to within an inch of their life, that would be clearly indicative that they're more likely to commit murder.

I'm not intimately familiar with the chess scene, Chess.com, or the current allegations, but from the brief stuff I've read it seems like cheating on Chess.com is fairly low-stakes. Perhaps it should raise peoples' priors on the likelihood of cheating in real tournaments slightly, but not much beyond that, and he certainly shouldn't "lose the benefit of the doubt" which is just a euphemism for "guilty until proven innocent".

For a non-chess example, remember that time Pewdiepie said the N word during a moment of clear frustration? Wokists and their allies in the media descended on him insinuating that anyone who would say it on stream like that was clearly a raging Neo Nazi in their private life, and such a person deserved to be cancelled. They didn't succeed, thankfully, but their actions should serve as a clear lesson to beware the slippery slope of deducing a person's entire moral compass from a few minor infractions.

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