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 -
I suspect they will fail. But some of them have gotten smarter over the years. It was common to come across "America on the brink of collapse" doomsday talk in previous years. Some of that may have been due to crossovers from the GOP hard-right, the kind of folks who watched Alex Jones and became even more radicalised.
These days, my impression is that they understand that the beast they are fighting isn't going down easily. But I don't even think they bother with taking power in conventional ways. Gathering a significant block of whites to cause significant friction will be sufficient in their minds.
I think the system understood this and has in response pulled back from the most extreme anti-white rhetoric. You see it everywhere now in the media. It may work for some time, but I think the racial dynamics of America is such that it will be hard to sustain the fantasy that "we're all in this together" as whites become a clear and distinct minority.
The US army being unable to recruit people doesn't portend well for the future in terms of patriotic attachment of the nation's youth. Why would white men die for a system that hates them?
Yet, my expectation is that while America will slowly slide into further dysfunction, it is unlikely to ever become critical. A slow descent is more likely and white elites can still do very well for themselves in America. That is important since intra-political conflict often needs a significant elite fractional support. That's a major missing ingredient for them. And I don't see it suddenly changing.
More options
Context Copy link