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 -
The East Coast has much harsher weather, I think it’s largely that simple. You see the worst homeless problem in San Diego (it’s just slightly less visible because the city is more suburban), even though SD is more ‘moderate’ than a lot of blue cities in at least some ways, because of the weather. If NYC had Seattle’s climate the crisis would be much worse, but NYC’s politics are also arguably hardened by reverence for the police in some places and a memory of the retaking of the city in the 80s and 90s from a violent crime epidemic. NYC also has a larger black population that tends to vote for more establishment/moderate democrats.
New York has 5 times as many homeless people as Washington: even if weather is harsher in NYC, they still have an enormous population of homeless and manage them better than any city in the 9th Circuit's jurisdiction. 39% of the total number of homeless people in America live in the 9th Circuit's jurisdiction, despite those states making up only 19% of the United States by population.
I don't deny that local politics can make the situation much better or much worse despite the 9th Circuit: but it is clear to me that the 9th Circuit has had a powerful effect on making the problem worse.
More options
Context Copy link
What about the coastal cities of the Southeastern US then? I suppose the weather there is also mild.
The Gulf Coast has much stronger storms than the West Coast. Seattle has a lot of rainy days half the year but on those rainy days it's cloudy all day and they get a 1/4" of rain. The Gulf Coast gets a storm once a week that drops many times more rain, possibly some hail, and gale or worse winds. It's also far less pleasant to be outside all day in the hot, muggy summer.
Moreso once you get north of florida/georgia, most of the coast experiences freezing temperatures for at least a few weeks during the winter. I imagine this kills some of the most feral and deranged junkies, which makes the remaining east coast homeless population seem less eccentric than it otherwise would be.
edit: i wrote this comment then immediately wondered if my ramblings had any correlation with reality, and looking at the maps here it seems like the west coast actually has lower lows than the same latitude on the east coast. https://gisgeography.com/us-temperature-map/
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link