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 -
Just saw a post on Reddit about a bartender at a dive bar in Seattle making $65/hour (mostly tips) and I believe him. Assuming he can pull 30 hours/week, this would put him around 95th percentile of French workers and with fewer hours worked even.
Money really does grow on trees here on the West Coast. Business minded? You can charge $200 for 90 minutes of "mobile detailing" which basically means vacuuming and washing someone's car. Get 20 appointments per week and that's 200k a year, which is nearly 1 percenter wages in France.
There's the rub, though: it's dependent on tipping culture. If you're making up someone's wages by tipping however much percentage, then you're not really getting the 'cheap price' for drinks, meals, whatever.
I don't know if people are starting to resent it, or the gradual upward creep (it was 15%, now it's 20% or whatever next) of expected acceptable tips. I do think if people are finding that discretionary spending has to be tightened, they're not going to tip as well or maybe even at all.
But it's different over here; tips are a voluntary thing, not expected to be priced in as part of your going out. Although a lot of places are starting to include "service charges" which again, you're never sure if they do share that with the staff or the owners just keep it as profit.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link