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 -
That sounds like it would be a pretty valuable thing...$500/year sounds like it might honestly be fairly generous for the average transit user. They're going to work 200 days/year, taking 400 trips...so it'd be $1.25/trip. Maybe have some kind of sweat equity program for the "deserving poor"/students/basically the kinds of people that can't afford $500 cash but also aren't aggressive fucked up mentally ill hobos. Accumulate 50 or 100 or whatever volunteer hours with (agency) picking up trash or building houses with Habitat for Humanity or whatever and you've got your pass for the year. The goal is basically to keep the hobos out, at least the ones that aren't able to be decently well-behaved and wear clean clothes. In some cities - Seattle, c. 2015 comes to mind - there are people that are homeless by choice, living in tents on the street and sometimes selling handicrafts. These people were wearing clean clothes and could hold civil conversations with you. They're just eccentrics; I wouldn't mind riding the bus with them...although I'd appreciate it if they didn't bring their samurai swords and whatnot with them on the bus, or at least concealed them.
More options
Context Copy link