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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   3530 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

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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Any recommendations for "brain off" YouTube channels?

I find all TV / Netflix is insufferable nowadays. Sports, of course, being the exception.

I'm looking for YouTube channels that are entertaining / mildly interesting that Mottizens enjoy.

I like this guy Bright Sun Travels who reviews cruises and resorts. I have no idea why, but it’s very relaxing to listen to someone with plausible-autism explain amenities calmly for 40 minutes. It’s truly brain-off because it has no impact on anything I will ever do.

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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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