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 -
A child sex ring run buy a guy whose Instagram feed looks like this iand who somehow makes a 50 most powerful people in Washington despite no real obvious qualifications beyond dating David Brock is a good bit smellier, no matter what his day job is. Cheese pizza is old chan slang for child porn; they are a bit over sensitive.
Is he probably just a gay matchmaker in a pre-Grindr world with a very dark sense of humor, yeah, but there's plenty of smoke in his online tracks. And you beat any smoking embers you find in a political campaign. Brock was one of the loudest voices against Trump. So going after him through a sketchy personal connection is political hardball and has been standard procedure for a long time in Washington.
I don't want to say too much because she is/was a minor, but the girl is the daughter of a former business partner of Alefantis and there were a bunch of other photos of her in weird poses with captions like "Hotard."
I'm not alleging anything, just supplying additional information. I don't know how to interpret the facts. I do know one theory was that the girl had been one of many kidnapped, but that is not the case.
I once wrote a quality contribution (tm) on my opinions around pizzagate at https://old.reddit.com/r/TheMotte/comments/jv161w/culture_war_roundup_for_the_week_of_november_16/gcw167l/?context=3&sort=best
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I'd like to see the results. Let's start with Jose Andres the other DC chef who was on the same 50 most powerful people in Washington list. I'm curious what the most bizarre posts you'll find will be.
https://instagram.com/chefjoseandres/
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link