site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 1, 2024

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.

6
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Maybe, but enbyizm will only get you so far. You might get gimmicks like enby bathrooms in progressive spaces, but the trans issue crosses too many boundaries that people won't back down from. Enbies won't give you males in women prisons, sports, etc.,or Trans Women Are Women.

Some people pointed out that the whole trans thing is just a subculture like Goth, except it also involves permanent body modifications. Non-medicalized enbyizm will be literally just another subculture.

A lot of enbys medicalize to a extent I expect you or the median social conservative would not be comfortable with, and have for longer than enby has been well-recognized as a term. Literally today in my tumblr feed discourse for a ratsphere example. And while it would be a 'retreat' on some matters to some extent, I'm not sure it's as big a retreat as you'd think.

There's a tendency to round the more obnoxious nonbinary people into more standardized trans categories (including legal and statistical measures!), and to round the less obnoxious trans people into the nonbinary category, but there's a lot going on in those communities that isn't obvious to outside observers.

Well, I agree this would turn a victory into a hollow one, but I don't see that particular scenario working out. I think it's more likely I'm straightforwardly wrong, and the trans movement wins. "We were wrong about transing kids into men/women, but now we know better! The Science clearly shows we should have been turning them into Nullos instead!" feels way too out there.