site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022

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.

26
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Many years until those pipelines to China are built.

At the moment, the gas fields that were supplying EU are thousands of km away from nearest China pipeline connection. The pipelines to China are from much smaller eastern fields.

All the gas that went to EU has nowhere to go. Unless they start with selling LNG, too.

Unless they start with selling LNG, too.

They have very little capacity to compress it. And are unlikely to be able to expand that much while under sanction.

And are unlikely to be able to expand that much while under sanction.

Yes. Chinese are completely unable to build gas liquefaction machinery. It requires high tech industry such a backward country cannot possibly manage to build.

Lmfao.

I get tons of downvotes when I point out 'sanctions' are no such a big deal when the country with half of the world's industry and the world's most rampant IP theft program refuses to sanction Russia on account of it being its biggest ally.

Cope & seethe, cope & seethe. Keep the downvotes coming.

Whining about downvoting is never productive.

"Cope and seethe" is just being obnoxiously antagonistic in a petty and immature way. This is not the playground and you aren't "winning" with the best neener-neener. Don't do this.

Okay.

I find it hilarious, this assumption that Chinese are traitorous idiots who are going to backstab Russia and can't even get high tech working.

Wishful thinking by yanks all the way, obviously.

Huge market out there for China related cope material. That they're going to betray Russia and snag some territory is about the most common talking point I see though.

I suppose China turning its back on Russia would be far-fetched, but I can imagine that if the two states were to ally, they would not even come close to being equivalent to 1.5 Americas. The Chinese readiness for war is still such that they might be capable of something, but the West has proven that China is very welcome to fuck around and find out--and maybe China won't, since the political costs of being smacked on your pizza hands over Taiwan are probably too dire to imagine.

but I can imagine that if the two states were to ally, they would not even come close to being equivalent to 1.5 Americas

Words fail, really.