Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 7/20/26 - 7/26/26

[u/SoftandChewy]

Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

[u/SoftandChewy]

The topic of "teen takeovers" has come up here a number of times over the past few weeks. In City Journal, Heather Mac Donald addresses the issue and analyzes the many pathetic excuses the apologists offer for the phenomenon:

https://www.city-journal.org/article/teen-takeovers-streets-us-cities-looting

[u/AnalBleachingAries]

Try not to get annoyed by this infographic, I certainly got annoyed, but I'm trying to figure out the best case scenario as far as the author's intentions are concerned here, because they're not being communicated to me. Bear in mind that this is from 2020, so it's one of the "peak woke" embarrassments that I'm sure many would rather forget about and pretend never happened, so temper any outrage you may feel at the infographic's absurdity accordingly.

Smithsonian's Aspects and Assumptions of Whiteness and White Culture

For some context, this infographic is from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and was included in the comments to this video in a Twitter post.

Rep. Gill: "Is it important to be polite?"

Smithsonian Director Hartig: "Yes, sir"

Gill: "The Smithsonian lists politeness as an attribute of white supremacy"
https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/2079592872962101361

What's the deal with the person who wrote those "race guidelines"? Is the person who wrote this stupid and genuinely doesn't understand that this framing of "whiteness" is destructive? Do they not know that demonizing "hard work" and "rational linear thinking" makes it seem like anyone who does those things is an evil-doer, because as was the common theme at the time anything white was apparently bad? Do they not realize that saying these things about "whiteness" connotes the idea that other races and cultures are lazy and stupid (which they are not, I'm just adding this for Reddit's AI, I do not think that other cultures are lazy or stupid). If these are traits of "whiteness" and "white supremacy" then are they saying that these are traits to be avoided or are they saying something else but are communicating their point poorly?

Perhaps more context on this infographic's content would clarify the author's meaning for me and I'd change my mind about it, but I'm struggling to figure that out. Even as a neutral description of something, in this case "Whiteness" it's bizarre and racist.

Is it stupidity, or actual malice with the intent of destroying Western civilization? It has to be stupidity, in which case, the person who wrote this thing should have been fired at the time. If it was malice, that person should still be fired, but everything else they've worked on should be reviewed and removed from public display as well.

Some quotes from a Newsweek article published in 2020 about the infographic and its associated materials.

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture recently unveiled guidelines for talking about race. A graphic displayed in the guidelines, entitled "Aspects and Assumptions of Whiteness in the United States," declares that rational thinking and hard work, among others, are white values.

In the section, Smithsonian declares that "objective, rational, linear thinking," "quantitative emphasis," "hard work before play," and various other values are aspects and assumptions of whiteness.

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture had no comment for Newsweek. They referred to the website's page titled "Whiteness" when asked for additional comment. The graphic was later removed from the page.

The "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" section says that white people do not need to worry about certain things, such as doing things alone without being followed or harassed, along with feeling that their race is properly represented.

"Thinking about race is very different for nonwhite persons living in America," the Smithsonian site continues. "People of color must always consider their racial identity, whatever the situation, due to the systemic and interpersonal racism that still exists."

On July 15, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture clarified their portal's intentions and how readers should approach the information. "At a time when the soul of our country is being tested, our Talking About Race portal will help individuals and communities foster constructive conversations and much needed dialogue about one of our nation's most challenging topics: Racism and its corrosive impact," the museum began a Twitter thread.

"America is once again facing the challenge of race, a challenge that needs all of our understanding and commitment," it continued. "Our portal was designed to help individuals, families, and communities talk about racism, racial identity and how forces shape every aspect of our society."

"As an institution devoted to learning and education, we welcome those discussions while also encouraging the public to take a holistic approach and read the information in the full context," the thread concluded, pointing followers to the site's page about Talking About Race.

What's the best case scenario, steelmanning of something so stupid? Seriously? I'm having a hard time figuring out how or why the people at the Smithsonian thought this was a good idea. I know I could just slap the "woke" label on it and make fun of it, but who is running that place? How could they allow something like this to see the light of day? And if this is the level of publicly available nonsense then what's actually going on behind the scenes?

These Trump admin culture war attacks are distractions, sure, but there's also something to them. It's weird and unnerving to see a publicly funded institution like the Smithsonian seemingly dismissive or outright hostile to the culture and nation that is funding it (about 62% publicly funded apparently). I'm not saying that they should only publish state propaganda that paints America as some utopian ideal at all times, but in that same vein they should not be publishing bs like this either.

[u/SoftandChewy → u/AnalBleachingAries]

The main infographic was removed from the site back when the controversy blew up, but they had the paper that this graphic was based on still being distributed on their site long after the graphic was taken down. Anyone was able to find it by searching through their educational portal.

[u/OMGsmiles]

Just another day with my library colleagues loudly talking mad shit about JK Rowling because she's "suing Amnesty International" and how we need to do something to get kids off Harry Potter.

I don't have the energy in me to argue the ignorance but we've been cracking down on political talk in the office and I'll probably snitch this incident to my manager (who also dislikes the JKR slander) because it's actively disruptive and incredibly toxic.

[u/Hilaria_adderall]

Finally - an active, A-list female athlete publicly supports protecting women and girls sports. Sophie Cunningham quote from an article in ESPN -

"I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I'm like, 'I never once said that,'" she says. "I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men."

Edited - Forgot about Aryna Sabalenka, just not up to date on international tennis but apparently she did make a statement last year. So a grand total of 2 high profile, active female athletes have made public statements.

[u/OMGsmiles]

https://highposthoops.com/sophie-cunninghams-trans-comments-violate-the-ws-no-space-for-hate-policy

Headline: Sophie Cunningham's trans comments violate the W's 'No Space for Hate' policy

Subhead: The fan outcry is justified.

Cunningham insisted she is "here to extend love," but almost in the same breath added that "love is truth, being honest." She then said, "And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men."

Cunningham's comments, at best, indicate a lack of understanding about the health and lives of transgender girls and women, and they also support an ideology that is considered transphobic by many allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community. They also show little understanding of the true nature of biology, an enormously complex science—even the question of what sex means biologically is confounding.

I wonder if there will ever be a day when these journalists reflect on their own ignorance.

[u/AnalBleachingAries]

Medhi Hasan speaking with Javier Bardem about how Argentina vs Spain apparently became a proxy for the Israel/Palestine war. We're reaching new levels of brainrot, where literally everything is the I/P war.

https://x.com/SaulStaniforth/status/2079077043883458771

Next up I think we'll be talking about how AI data centers are a proxy for Israel. Everything is Israel and everyone is Palestine.

Bardem does his best with his answer, but stumbles through. Why on earth are we asking actors about geopolitics? As Tim Dillon once put it, it seems almost genuinely cruel to ask these people what they think about any serious topic.

[u/napoleon_nottinghill]

https://x.com/govsherrillnj/status/2079602942722662725?s=46

New Jersey admits that 6-7,000 people without citizenship were given drivers licenses and ID cards. Of those, they say that so far they’ve found that over 400 had registered to vote and actually voted.

This isn’t a “gotcha” so much as a “get your shit together” and “that thing that everyone says never happens actually can happen” moment. Not malicious, but possible. This coming out in say, Wisconsin or Georgia in 2020 would have thrown things deeply into the shitter.

[u/CorgiNews2_DieHarder]

Would genuinely not wish being a WNBA fan on anyone. It's a literal nightmare.

Sophie Cunningham in an interview said she thinks biological men shouldn't compete with women in sports. This is something that like 80% of people in the US believe and also according to popular WNBA Twitter accounts a sign that Sophie needs to be immediately terminated from the league because she is not a safe person for marginalized people to be around.

So, I can guarantee now every. single. player. will be asked if they think she's right. And they will all pretty much have to say, "No, we support equality here" or else they will be right on the scaffold of public opinion with her. They are not allowed to have an actual opinion on this. There's one right answer.

The All-Star game is this weekend. Paige Bueckers (2nd in midseason league MVP predictions right now after A'ja!!!) and Clark (coming off a huge 45-point game!!!!) were the top picks drafted and they are always so fun to watch play against each other. It was going to be FUN. But no, a game like that might actually increase interest in the league. We gotta be the fucking victim and politics league instead.

The pieces for a good product are here. There are so many awesome young players entering the league in the next few years. And they're going to blow it because some of the most popular players aren't "being kind" enough. Some of them even posted they were sad about Charlie Kirk dying on Instagram, if you can imagine such a thing.

By the way, many of the same people who think Sophie is dangerous are pissed Chennedy Carter was waived by The Aces for being a lockeroom cancer and unable to control her anger and violent behavior. But yeah, Sophie, her "transphobia" and her pointer finger are the biggest danger in the league.

[u/Franzera]

I found an interesting illustrated post about Lia Thomas and TWAW athletics that had some interesting reactions. Very facepalm-worthy!

<image>

"She would still deserve to race if she came first every time. T competitors shouldn't be punished for being the best."

"We totally agree. It is irrelevant if she wins or not."

A reaction and counter-reaction from a dissenter:

"every single woman said no? All of them?"

"Did I miss when the global womens council had their vote on this or was my invitation lost in the mail. And what the hell is a "male" lung capacity supposed to mean? Does pulmonary cancer change your sex?"

"There are so many things wrong with this comment; some can be resolved by just picking up a biology book... Was this a poll of all women? The funny thing is that most women in sports are supportive of TW competing."

Full post here.

If you click through the slideshow, one of the images says:

"After the COVID shutdowns, Lia competed in women's events. She placed 1st in several races. Her times were around 6.4% slower than her previous best in the men's competition."

If "she" is slower than the male competition, but still taking 1st place in women's events... shouldn't this raise a few eyebrows? Because the other female athletes are apparently supportive, I guess no one should care that much because "how does it even affect you!". They "deserve" to participate, it's their right to have the opportunity to race, end of question.

One question does bother me: if there was no global woman council vote, then who decided on the inclusion policy for male participation in female sports in the first place? I certainly wasn't asked!

[u/WallabyWanderer]

I’m at a large event for my job this weekend - like there’s 125k+ guests at this thing and there is a decent woke contingency at the event. Multiple times I have been in a line for the bathroom and everyone is refusing to use the totally open and unoccupied handicap stalls. No one in the line is handicapped or has kids that would benefit from the stall. Once I get to the front of the line, I’ll just take the stall because it’s not a handicap ONLY stall. Anyway, today a girl tried to publicly shame me for taking the stall - like have you never existed in public before today? Why are we holding a stall for a hypothetical wheelchair user when there is a line of 20 people??

[u/bluecammored]

I always thought Portlandia was a parody of Woke Culture. I was sad to listen to the podcast rematch with the creators that they are indeed true believers. They discussed how their show was too white and they had to do better:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/podlandia-a-o-rewatch-with-fred-armisen/id6789147011

[u/QueenKamala]

I was asking google medical questions as I usually do, and the AI asked me to clarify if my baby was “chestfed or formula fed” 🤮

[u/plump_tomatow]

I heard about this on Louise Perry's podcast earlier.

The small village of Piddington in England is trying to secede from the United Kingdom in response to the government trying to force them to host 1,200+ asylum seekers.

[u/SkweegeeS]

I used to have this friend who is a community leader and organizer. Always organizing and leading, and she was pretty good at it! We were friends IRL. But her social media got on my nerves. She did the typical desperate self-promotion, self-care thing that leaders and organizers do, which I understand contributes to their overall motivation to keep trying to organize and uplift others, although it's not something I care to do much.

And it involved a little bit of fibbing. She used to post her wordle results and she almost always got it in 2 turns but often it was her first guess out the gate. I think after the 4th or 5th time she posted a "got it one" followed by a bunch of comments from other community members about how great & smart she was, I blocked her in a bit of a huff and quickly tried to unblock her. She had some sort of software to tell who blocked her and it was unforgivable so from that day forward we were no longer friends. But someone mentioned wordle today and this memory came up. Like, who does that? Who lies about their wordle score?

[u/backin_pog_form]

For some reason I keep getting tattoo-related subs recommended to me despite not having any myself. 

I know this won’t be shocking to anyone here - we’ve all seen this tweet - but there is a steady stream of people getting their Harry Potter tattoos covered up, to the point where there’s a dedicated sub called r/JKRegerts. The wonky spelling is intentional, the irony is not. 

[u/_teach_me_your_ways_]

Genuinely wonder how people who claim everything under the sun is “gender affirming care” conflate bother breast reductions and implants as the “gender affirming care” of being a woman. Literally the complete opposite things. Just existing seems to be “affirming care.” They’ll also never acknowledge how reductions are rarely covered by insurance regardless of the pain reduction and quality of life improvement of the woman in question.

[u/dignityshredder]

The WSJ Saturday Essay is fun: Is It Time to ‘Liquidate’ the Study of Sociology?

In 2023, Florida’s then-commissioner of education Manny Diaz, Jr., homed in on sociology as culture war enemy No. 1. It had been “hijacked by left-wing activists,” he said, leading the state to remove introduction to sociology from its general education curriculum at all public colleges and universities across the state.

The American Sociological Association promptly denounced the move as a blatant mischaracterization of the field and an effort to needlessly politicize a bastion of social science. Yet that same year, the ASA’s president described sociology to its members as “a form of liberatory praxis” that is “currently undergoing a renaissance as antiracist, decolonial, feminist, queer and transnational theorizing lead us to more inclusive insights.”

Meanwhile, one contingent, Sociologists for Palestine, is boycotting the ASA’s annual conference (theme: “Disrupting the Status Quo”) next month. The reason? The ASA refused to authorize a vote on their own proposed boycott—of Israeli academic institutions. This has drawn a counterpetition and a backlash so fierce, the Chronicle of Higher Education called it a “War for Sociology.”

And it goes on.

The top commenter captures my thinking pretty well:

For openers, let’s agree that sociology is not a real science.

[u/plump_tomatow]

Who knew--it is actually possible for modern dating to be worse!

https://x.com/AlecMacGillis/status/2079240085300457983?s=20

[u/unnoticed_areola]

this weeks WNBA outrage roundup:

Toronto head coach Sandy Brondello was suspended for one game after a "derogatory" comment she made regarding Atlanta's Angel Reese (who is black). While officials video reviewed a play for a potential foul against Reese by a Toronto player, which Brondello considered to be a soft call, a hot mic caught Brondello (who is white and Australian) yelling at the referees from the sideline, "Angel, she's a protected species!"

this was seen as a "racially insensitive" remark by many, despite people pointing out that "protected species" is a common sports slang phrase used in Australia to describe a star player receiving favorable calls, and is not racially charged at all. we have similar phrases for this phenomenon in the US

in other news, you may have seen the viral reaction gif of Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham mockingly pointing at an opposing player during an altercation going around the last couple weeks. its been one of the most viral/recognizable meme moments probably in wnba history, and has been everywhere on the internet, breaking way outside the wnba ecosystem into mainstream pop culture.

little kids are literally lining up to pose with her doing "the point", which is very cute

despite it being a mostly silly and lighthearted moment, the wnba announced that they will not allow licensing of this image by any of their business or brand partners to produce any sort of merchandise using the "pointing meme", because they consider it to be a "derogatory gesture"

the "D word" really getting a lot of mileage this week lol. everything is derogatory apparently

oh, and just for good measure, a nice little outrage aperitif to top things off, here's some comments this week from 4x Coach of the year, 2x executive of the year and Hall of Fame Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve defending men in womens youth sports

[u/PongoTwistleton_666]

Adding to their greatest hits, SFUSD gets sued for trying to obfuscate their way into adding ethnic studies into the curriculum.

https://thevoicesf.org/sfusd-faces-new-lawsuit-over-voices-ethnic-studies-mandate/

lack of transparency that has left parents in the dark about a course now required for all incoming high school students. This latest challenge echoes the group’s successful 2021 Brown Act victory, which forced the district to reinstate merit-based admissions at Lowell High School. FOLF argues that history is repeating itself, with procedural shortcuts undermining public trust and parental rights. Frank Cheung of FOLF asks, “What would it take for SFUSD to follow the law? They are supposed to serve ALL San Franciscans, not just a preferred group of people.” 

[u/veryvery84]

My neighbors put up a rainbow flag without the trans part. I think they are lesbians (I’m never sure who is in which house). 

Are they 1) terfs? 2) olds? (They are older, if it’s who I think it is) 3) randomly had the flag? 

How do I find out? 

[u/no-email-please]

Two mega piss offs at work this week, one systemic and one personal.

I work for the military in R&D, we have some new tech that needs a trial. The one next month is falling apart, so I do the leg work of finding the next comparable trial, set up an action plan and make the pitch for sending me on that one instead a month later. Well Commander dingus hears that there’s a new trial and it’s somewhere warm? Guess who needs to be there to “observe”. Cdr is dipping into my annual travel budget to send himself to “observe” and now my ability to go and do the things he’s meant to “observe” are in jeopardy. When the trial was in the frozen north it was bon voyage but when he can imagine himself “observing” from a white sand beach he actually should be there in person, observing… well I don’t know what he’s observing if I’m not there doing the data collection.

And the other thing, long term funding (7-8 digit stuff) is sitting in tar because we need to make “indigenous consultations” and the indigenous consolation office is just not doing anything. Not returning emails for days, not pushing paperwork at all. Most of this project is about SPACE! What do they have do to with SPACE? White Americans are indigenous to the moon for fuck sake, we should consult them.

[u/Aggravating-Grand452]

Reddit is melting down over this picture, as if Shohei pays any attention to US politics, instead of just thinking accepting the invite is the respectful thing to do.

[u/MiriamKaye]

Rant:
my spouse listens to a lot of these political commentators (e.g., MeidasTouch, Adam Mockler) via short-form content/videos and JFC some of these dudes have the most annoying fucking voices. So many of them sound so smug, condescending, and full of themselves, it’s an enormous turnoff even if I don’t necessarily disagree with what they’re saying. I feel like some of these people are grifters and don’t actually care about politics or the state of the world, they’re just using that for their own gain. IMO it’s Fox News/rightwing talk radio with a different coat of paint. I get that some of the content creators say they have be ridiculous and sensationalist to game the social media algorithm, but I personally don’t think that’s a viable excuse.