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TracingWoodgrains -- 'Book Review: The Color of Law'
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This could technically be in the culture war thread, but would probably get dinged as a low effort post. I'm not going to approve it as is.

I generally suggest three things for a non low effort post:

  1. Context - what the heck are you talking about.
  2. Analysis - what is said and not said by the direct source. Adding personal analysis is highly suggested here.
  3. Opinion - What is there to discuss? Why should this change someone else's mind? did it change yours? Why do you think it should change people's opinons?

  1. I believe the three introductory paragraphs contextualize the content well enough. This is a a blog post that is reviewing a book which focuses on a specific kind of perspective on government housing policy.

  2. & 3. I am not equipped to provide analysis that provides value beyond that which is provided by the content contained therein. I could write more. I could explain why it's interesting to me. Doing this might convince mods a sufficient effort threshold was achieved, but it might not be so valuable as a reader.

I have not read the book. I have read a blog post about the book. I could further summarize the blog post and continue to point at interesting things inside it. The post becomes a justification of my interest. Not what I actually find interesting. Which is the content of the post not my reaction to it.

If it's too Bare Link-y, that's fine. Maybe another time.

Yes it's too bare linky

Okay. In the past I swear there's been a few bare link longform blog submissions to the front page. Even if we exclude Scott submissions as some special one-time exception. Maybe they do get got and I see them before the gotting.

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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