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 -
Take all of this with the grain of salt: I was definitely just discovering libertarianism as a political force, with all the pretension that entails.
At the time, I viewed the 2012 election as a referendum on the negative tactics of the GOP. There had been two major attempts to repeal the ACA with, as I saw it, no credible attempts to build something else. The Tea Party was in full swing, milking the debt ceiling crisis for all it was worth. It was the time of the weaponized filibuster. And it was the time of birtherism and Dijon mustard.
So when all this “negative” politics failed to oust Obama, I concluded that the GOP must be in shambles. I figured that its coalition was going to splinter before dropping the parts that weren’t pulling any weight. Since my exposure to the party planks was largely filtered through Fox News, that meant Christianity. I’d just watched Rick Santorum get thrashed in the primary by a big-business moderate. Roe v. Wade wasn’t on the table. The religious squabbles of the early 2000s seemed so thoroughly settled. Clearly, the libertarians were going to get folded into a new, more constructive Republican Party.
And yes, I realize this evidence could have been taken the exact opposite way: a sign Republicans needed to double down on social conservatism. Arguably, that’s what ended up happening, as the party struggles with a Democratic insistence on idpol. I don’t claim that my youthful political theorizing was very good.
More options
Context Copy link