site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   30730 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 3, 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.

6
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I'm against compulsory superannuation too, but I think you dramatically overstate how bad it is. It's trivial to find a good fund and put your money in there and get good returns. And then you have a nice pile of money waiting for you when you retire.

Property is indeed expensive, because we have high immigration rates that our construction rates don't keep up with. But not as bad as the UK.

I don't know what pathways Indian doctors take to get here, but there sure are a lot of them, so a pathway must exist.

The food is a lot better than the US too IMO.

The biggest problem in my opinion is disastrous energy policy that is leading to skyrocketing power prices.

The pathway to simply becoming "a" doctor in Canada is relatively simple (albeit still gated off from me for the same stupid reason the US is).

But specialization is a far bigger hassle since they're uber protective of their local residents, making it a PITA to progress in your career.

I'd go so far as to say it's better to go halfway down the pipeline in the UK and transfer to Canada for double the pay, instead of sticking it out at either end.

I just want to keep my money, why is that so much to ask? My investments do better than any fund manager and so what if I did worse, it's my money. Is there any confidence the money will really be there when we retire, that the baby boomers won't take it all, or the government won't tax/inflate it away? In crypto, there's a saying 'not your keys, not your coins' which should go double for wealth hidden opaquely that can't be withdrawn by law. And $30 billion is charged every year in superannuation fees.

True on the Indian doctor front, I understand that there's a lot of cheating, degree mill universities, fake credentials. Presumably that's why we have these rules and checks, though the UK is more desperate for doctors.

I just want to keep my money, why is that so much to ask?

As I said, I oppose compulsory superannuation and this is one of several reasons why.

Is there any confidence the money will really be there when we retire, that the baby boomers won't take it all, or the government won't tax/inflate it away? In crypto, there's a saying 'not your keys, not your coins' which should go double for wealth hidden opaquely that can't be withdrawn by law.

This however is paranoid rambling. The super funds really do have massive asset portfolios and they really do pay out balances to retirees.

And $30 billion is charged every year in superannuation fees.

It is indeed important to a) consolidate all your super into one account so you aren't paying multiple sets of fees (this is basic advice but many don't follow it) and b) make sure you are with a fund that delivers good after-fee returns. There are definitely a bunch of funds that provide bad value and eat away at balances through excessive fees.

Having said that, $30 billion in fees does need to be put in context of $3.5 trillion total assets. It's still less than 1%, despite the problems that exist.

If you can consistently outperform indexes then you should quit your job and become a hedge fund manager. I seriously doubt that’s the case but if true you could become so rich you wouldn’t need the superattenuation.

Most countries are content to have their own medical licensing exams that international doctors must pass.

If they don't catch the frauds, they're not very good exams IMO.

The UK makes do without the thing that the other Commonwealth countries and the US quibble over, but to be fair most med schools have that by default, which is why it came to me as a kick in the nuts when I graduated and found out mine didn't. It's not a legal requirement for one to have it here.

Also, a major reason that the UK is desperate for doctors is that a sizeable fraction of their native ones have had enough and are fucking off to other countries as fast as they can. So they fill that lacuna with IMGs like me.

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