The Motte

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What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.

Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.

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If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

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OkayButWhat

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joined 2026 February 09 17:38:56 UTC

User ID: 4174

OkayButWhat

0 followers follows 0 users joined 2026 February 09 17:38:56 UTC

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User ID: 4174

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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

OkayButWhat 45m ago

And when the pro-trans faction were like, 'But this isn't right!', and sought to change it, the anti-trans faction objected to their cheese being moved.

Yeah, you're right, everyone didn't immediately hand the reins of society over to them. What a scandal. Of course it would help if their entire intellectual facade didn't instantly implode for eternity in the face of the "what is a woman" meme.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

OkayButWhat 48m ago

thus allowing them to make the assertion that other people's genitalia are any of their business without being seen to make said assertion, and avoid anyone asking why they are concerned with other people's anatomy.

This is complete horse shit and instantly reduces your credibility to zero.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

OkayButWhat 16hr ago

I think trans ideology just caught on hard with school shooter types, that is to say a very particular strain of autistic mega-exile. I mean I think we all knew it wasn't Chad and Stacy driving those transgender teen numbers over the last few years.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

OkayButWhat 1d ago

There may be civilizational difficulties down the line as generations of elderly Redditors and the like all turn into childless skeletons forgotten in dusty apartments, but human beings aren't going to go extinct because the members of the last genetically viable colony all look at one another and say "meh not in this housing market." Sooner or later this situation will indeed correct itself.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

OkayButWhat 2d ago

I just thought it's odd that the man was shot 3 times at point blank range at survived, and i'm trying to think of an explanation.

It's odd, but far from unheard of. Bullets can do unpredictable things and it's not impossible to 'roll low for damage' so to speak.

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