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 -
My father was also conservative, as was his father. I am sharing my opinions on social conservatism and the effects it has on parents and children based on my anecdotal evidence, which is that I have yet to meet a daughter of a conservative father I did not consider nor failed to witness as I described earlier, to include myself. I had a great deal of internalized misogyny which manifested into self hatred because, of many things, my father punished me for stepping outside of my gender binary and made my natural instincts and desires feel wrong. My brother is severely emotionally stunted because my father adhered to Western concepts of masculinity which encourages stoicism over vulnerability.
I am not too sure how it is any more objectively "dunking on my outgroup" to say these things than the many men here who have made antagonistic statements about women based on *their * anecdotal evidence. Subjectively, though, I can understand the reactions to my opinions, although I am not too sure what "defending the honor of our gender" means. I speak for no woman except for myself, because I believe the only thing you and I have in common (assuming you are a woman from "we") by us both being women is similar biological functions. I pushback against broad generalization of both men and women, because I find both to be equally capable of everything sans some physical capabilities which can be remedied with science.
More options
Context Copy link