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 -
There’s a lot of obfuscation about this case - it’s quite simple.
Did Perry have a right to drive on the street?
Did Garrett Foster have a right to blockade a road with his friends and then detain people driving down that road who didn’t wish to be detained.
Upon being detained, did Perry have justifiable belief that his detainers might use their firearms against him this allowing him to claim self-defense.
To help us decide- consider another scenario - Foster & friends stood outside Perry’s front door with a gun without permission and attempted to detain him as Perry walks out the door. Is Perry justified in defending himself?
Another scenario for consideration - Foster and friends attempt to detain the President on Pennsylvania Ave and point guns in his general direction - what would the Secret Service do in that situation?
Im trying to move convo to pardon power which I think is interesting. I don’t think anyone won on guilty or innocent but regardless the pardon power is interesting.
More options
Context Copy link
Well if you were detaining people by using said truck to block people in, then I think the people you’re attempting to detain have the right to ram the truck to escape the situation.
We disagree on whether Perry was intentionally driving into the crowd.
More options
Context Copy link
But you can't stand in the middle of the road and expect to avoid being hit by a car, I don't care if the car is there legally or not, and similarly you can't imprison a stranger, I don't care if they are in a car, it is illegal - so that's an initiated assault without any angle for self defence. So they transformed into violent criminals first by stepping into the road, and clearly he was afraid of the violent criminals detaining him, and responded in self defence.
More options
Context Copy link
I’ll shut this down because I read some. He apparently stopped for 6 seconds. There’s no evidence he was running people over. I agree with the point but there’s no evidence shooter rammed people.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link