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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3244 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 25, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Do any Motters buy gold or other precious metals, to store at your dwelling?

If so: why do you do this? How much of it do you have? (E.g., one month's salary worth, or some other relative figure that can just give a sense.)

This has come up frequently in conversation among my friends lately, for some reason. I am asking with an open mind.

My prepper impulses are limited to ammunition rather than precious metals. I have considered precious metals as well but decided that I think the situations where metals are the difference maker are fairly niche. Arguably I'm underestimating the risk level and should just buy $10K in gold and silver as a slight hedge. I actually find that argument fairly persuasive, but I haven't done it anyway.

The time to buy gold and silver was six months ago, at the latest.

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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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