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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   2630 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 6, 2022

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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So, what are you reading?

I'm going through Keyes' Flowers for Algernon, another one that has been on my shelf for far too long.

Still Thunder Below, still excellent. The actual plot events are incredible, and I am continuously surprised by how much everyone hews to the stereotypes of mid-century Americana. I also didn’t realize the author won a Medal of Honor for one of the actions.

Over October, I did a night-by-night read of A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. The prose was delicious. I really want to get someone to read it completely blind, because the premise (horror fiction battle royale) is just so lovably bizarre. I would die for Snuff.

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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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