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 -
Yes, but they're not old enough yet. We know we may encounter some issues like this someday. I generally don't want to ever tell my kids what to think in the first place, and I don't think my wife does either. I plan to do a lot of Socratic questioning, and explaining how I think while also not pressuring them to think that way. My wife and I believe in the tactics of not arguing about this stuff in front of the kids, not ridiculing each other's viewpoints, and not undermining each other.
That said, if trans issues come up, that in particular will probably be a very difficult thing to deal with, though I do believe that my wife is sane enough to not believe in puberty blockers and actually hormonal transition for children. I know she does understand that there are some decisions that children are not old enough to make.
I really want to move to a more purple area, so my kids are exposed equally to diverse messaging which is exposed to scrutiny, not just drinking progressive Kool aid. My wife understands this desire of mine and is also up for moving. But picking a location that I believe is diverse enough, while also finding jobs that fit certain criteria for each of us is a challenging enough prospect that we have not made significant headway in this regard yet.
More options
Context Copy link