site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 21, 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.

14
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Does anyone really believe a person who was never in government can do much of anything? The federal government is just so different compared to a company. Crazy to think success in one area suggests success in the other because the skill set is different.

Is Vivek an inspiring person? Sure. Is he a good candidate? Not if your goal is real progress when in office.

As President, it matters less what that particular person thinks, and more how much risk they're willing to swallow. There's no shortage of bright-spark admin-law scholars and lawyers who can come up with wild schemes to accomplish just about any policy in any direction - the question is, does the decisionmaker at 1600 Pennsylvania have the guts - and the cat-herding skills - to actually pick something and push forward with it?

It isn’t just about risk taking. It is also about navigating administrative beyond just the legal aspects but having a trusted group of people working for you as opposed to undermining you.

Interestingly enough, RDS fits both of those bills. He had a real profile in courage moment with covid. He also built a very solid team in Florida.

Vivek? Who the fuck knows. It is a lot easier to campaign and say “I would do XYZ” as opposed to actually having to make the decision to do XYZ.

Trump can’t hirer the best people. And that is a major problem. It might have been Hannania but someone said if you work with Trump it’s the last job you get. Someone like Kashkari made a career following Paulson as a high level aide under Bush. You do that for Trumps treasury security your not getting the revolving door back to Pimco or Goldman Sachs.

I don’t know if Trumps base realizes how big a problem this is. You need allies like that to get shit done.

Exactly. So true.