site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   37122 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 10, 2023

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.

14
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

transition year

anyone caught gouging will be fined harshly

The text of the bill appears to include no such provisions. (And there's nothing wrong with "price gouging" in the first place.)

As a free-market libertarian, I generally agree on "price gouging" - the real value is what the market pays. However, there is a moral risk of a bunch of companies just raising their prices precipitously and blaming the FairTax: "It's not our fault, it's the government." Therefore, there are provisions for transition relief.

When I heard it on the radio over 15 years ago, it was phrased in terms of price gouging; it's actually found in the text of the bill in the form of an inventory tax credit to avoid double taxation (and thus avoid price gouging). Here's an article on the transition rules from the people pushing the FairTax, or hear the article read aloud in a 10-minute YouTube video. I've included the URL here ➡ with a time-stamp for the three explicit transition period rules, and pasted the relevant one below:

First, since inventory is not deductible under the income tax until it is sold, existing inventory will have been acquired with after-tax dollars. To then subject inventory held prior to the effective date of the FAIRtax to a sales tax would constitute double taxation and disrupt markets. Businesses that have inventory held on the date prior to the enactment of the FAIRtax qualify for a “transitional inventory credit” if the inventory is sold subject to the FAIRtax within a two year period. Qualified inventory shall have the cost that it had for federal income tax purposes for the active business as of the end of the final income tax year. The credit is equal to the cost of the qualified inventory times the FAIRtax rate.

To ensure that the inventory credit can follow qualified inventory through the supply chains, businesses may sell the right to receive the inventory credit. The inventory credit indirectly allows for a transitional period for manufacturing and retailing to adjust to pricing without the inclusion of income and payroll taxes, corporate taxes, and compliance costs that before the FAIRtax were a large percentage of the cost passed along to the consumer. This means being able to keep some prices the same immediately after the effective date and then change prices over time, removing the inducement to buy or sell just before the effective date.

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