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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.

New post guidelines

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.

If in doubt, please post it!

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BANNED USER: Antagonistic in DMs

kakistocrat

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joined 2022 September 09 18:36:11 UTC

User ID: 1082

Banned by: @Amadan

BANNED USER: Antagonistic in DMs

kakistocrat

0 followers follows 0 users joined 2022 September 09 18:36:11 UTC

No bio...

User ID: 1082

Banned by: @Amadan

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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

kakistocrat 1yr ago

Uncured bacon exists. And the risk from nitrites is not a nutritional one like is being discussed.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

kakistocrat 1yr ago

What makes bacon unhealthy? Fat? Fat is not in itself unhealthy. Eating nothing but bacon is not great for you, generally, but neither is eating nothing but lettuce.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

kakistocrat 1yr ago

What food is unhealthy?

We spent how many decades with the FDA pushing a "mostly carbs" diet?

I know how this will go... the most intolerant (probably Vegans) will eventually gain control of agency tasked with restricting our food options. And now I'm penalized for enjoying steak and pulled pork.

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Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 9, 2022

kakistocrat 1yr ago

Nominative determinism in action

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Crosspost: Reflection on Becaming a German Citizen

kakistocrat 1yr ago

So if I understand correctly, I could theoretically be eligible for German citizenship by virtue of my male line ancestry stretching back to a defecting Hessian soldier during the American Revolution?

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Psychology is overrated.

kakistocrat 1yr ago

Or just giving yourself lead poisoning.

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Friday Fun Thread for September 30, 2022

kakistocrat 1yr ago

Those tits are absolutely massive.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022

kakistocrat 1yr ago

DR3 is true but irrelevant.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 12, 2022

kakistocrat 1yr ago

I don't think they were wrong, but I believe they would be surprised by the depths to which we have sunk.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

kakistocrat 1yr ago

Fibbing, Feckless, Factious, Fake, Febrile, Feeble, Fickle, Furtive Fetterman.

There are literally a dozen better options than "Lying Liberal."

Alliteration is key.

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