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 -
It'd be odd for India to start whacking Khalistanis in Canada about 40 years after the Sikh insurgency. Even more odd is that people with higher bounties continue to live free lives in Canada. If the Indian Govt. had to do a covert assassination, Nijjar wouldn't make it to the top 100 list.
Trudeau himself seems misinformed since the guy was never granted Canadian citizenship.(might have been a citizen?) The guy came to Canada in 1997. Used a false passport. His refugee claim was rejected, but 11 days after that, he married a woman who sponsored him for immigration. That, too, was rejected. As of 2016. his Interpol wanted notice mentioned his nationality as Indian. (assuming that the screenshot being used by top media houses is legitimate)Are we going to forget the 1985 bombings. Model citizens who're only responsible for the 'worst terrorist act on Canadian soil'. The Sikhs overall are great people, but they do have a larger violent underbelly than most other Asian immigrant groups.
I agree it's a rather queer move, which is why I only assigned ~50% credence to the Indian government ordering the hit. It's really not our style.
Interesting, I hadn't heard anyone point this out while the news was breaking. Though, from a Canadian perspective, I doubt they care overmuch if he's a citizen, more that he was potentially assassinated on their soil. Either way, they have a bunch of Sikhs to appease.
Forget? I'd never heard of it in the first place!
But as far as I can tell, Sikhs aren't the type to not get along if you live and let live. Let them erect their gurudwaras, wear their turbans and twirl their knives about, and I doubt they would raise a fuss.
In the India Subreddit they take that as proof that Sikhs infiltrated the Canadian intelligence agencies:
https://old.reddit.com/r/india/comments/16mict9/india_expels_top_canadian_diplomat_as_trudeau_row/k18rrxs/
A witness was also murdered and „ a consequence of his murder, the affidavit was inadmissible as evidence.[149] This was later cited as a reason why the suspects in the bombing were eventually acquitted in 2005“.
Juicy fodder for conspiracy theorists!
WOW, I don't think you realize how monumental this is.
The India subreddit likely the most anti-India place inhabited by Indians. Even the most moderate individual used to get banned within a day. It was well understood to be run by hyper-liberal woker-than-is-humanly-possible type mods. I kid you not. There were rumors of the sub being run by a Pakistani, is how incredibly anti-India that place used to be.
If even /r/India sides against Trudeau in this story, then there is true bipartisanship on the matter.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link