I try to post in-depth and reasoned comments to this exact point whenever someone in my social circle posts ranty "news" articles, but they just get completely flat-out ignored.
I've never seen anyone argue that this elite vs the rest pickpocketing isn't actually happening and (what we call) the culture war is the real battle.
It would be helpful if there was, because then I could try to understand the mindset behind the dismissal of our view— it's driving me crazy.
Like with any culture war issue anywhere, it reaches the point where, whether actively or due to escalation, rational discussion does not survive in an environment where the stakes become personalized. It's wishful to lament how people aren't talking about this rationally but because of escalation the only way to get your message out effectively is to, unfortunately, distill it as hard as you can. I don't think anyone knows how to effectively defuse this situation, so it's just a horrible catch-22.
The UK is, of course, not immune to this on its own culture war issues.
The problem is you're implicitly assuming this (and other recent "culture war topics" is actually about reasoning and legitimate attempt at debate. It isn't. This is about controlling narratives and reframing offensive goals so they become a legitimate political opinion.
Most of these calls for a "debate" are not trying to actually debate anything. They are trying to make enough confusing noise and repeat their talking points as often as possible.
For a much better explanation of how this works - and why it's a trap which educated, well meaning, politically-interested people seem to be particularly vulnerable - see this short video essay:
I don't think you're wrong per se, but I don't think GP is arguing that american "culture wars" are a media fabrication, just that it's meaningless, except for some wackos.
The problem is how the media (including social media) amplifies it.
Are we reading different posts? I saw nothing that could be described as "culture war" related in the OP. Are you perhaps talking about lesswrong in general?
The last several decades have seen a huge decline in people's actual material well being, wealth, and personal security, full stop. If you have not noticed this, congratulations, you are lucky.
It's not just "the media" and "the culture" and "the discourse..." it is material fact.
So, yes, you read the room right. The reason none of these discussions are productive is because the material strife is consistently and purposefully sublimated into cultural/personal strife, so that it any change which would arise -- which happens when people actually understand material reality -- is prevented.
The rage is cultural because if it were not cultural, things would materially change.
On the contrary, clearly there's some intellectually stimulating comments here. I just spent some time reading posts that argued with each other, deeply considering the points that each made.
Can you expand on what you mean by the American culture wars?
So, I think I can empathize with this viewpoint comes from, and I think it is shared by a lot of people. Talking or debating issues involving inequality is hard and it is easy to feel like the "bad guy".
But I must say, I cannot take seriously the idea that there is a "victimhood culture". It just screams propaganda/dog-whistling to me.
And "culture war" is such dangerous and empty language that is primarily used by the right to talk about the fact that historically marginalized people today want to be respected and treated as equals under the law.
Historically marginalized people who have been portrayed in the media using stereotypes for decades which has, in my opinion, lead to many well-meaning folks having socially harmful unconscious biases. Historically marginalized people who have been denied wealth.
This rhetoric is holding everyone back. Sure, culture will change as more people are empowered. Please stop calling it a "culture war". I guarantee you, people who believe others are acting as "unreasonable victims" are not good students of history. That loudmouthed girl talking a whole lot of shit on Twitter is angry for a reason, even if you don't think they are "articulating" it right. So is the Trump voter.
Unfortunately a lot of 'special interests' are trying as hard as they can to turn that culture war into a genuine hot war - which I don't feel anyone has any real appetite or need for - and all/most of the media seem to be playing along.
It's a bit exhausting and frankly, pathetic, to watch people literally talking it into existence out of thin air.
The culture war is just a distraction, a divide-and-conquer strategy by the wealthy elites (who are isolated enough in their personal lives to be able to avoid all this noise) playing the masses to hate each other instead of hating and attacking the elites.
The best strategy is not to play, blend in and try to reach elite level yourself.
I'd say that the lesson learned needs to be broader than that. Any time Texas, California, Portland etc are mentioned the culture warriors of the left and right come out. The effect is a lot of lost trust for each other in this community when that happens. I do appreciate the people who posted on the other thread saying they were wrong about assuming a homeless person did it, but this won't be the last time culture war issues land discretely on the front page.
I've never seen anyone argue that this elite vs the rest pickpocketing isn't actually happening and (what we call) the culture war is the real battle.
It would be helpful if there was, because then I could try to understand the mindset behind the dismissal of our view— it's driving me crazy.
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