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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3072 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 23, 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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What are your go-to news sources?

I always feel a step behind when it comes to the current administration’s actions. It usually takes about a month for the real substance—beyond the initial outrage-driven headlines—to reach me, along with the actual reasoning behind any given policy.

It also seems like much of the discourse is happening on Twitter, which is frustrating. I have a deep disdain for social media and have no desire to be more online than I already am.

Have to give a shout out to The Motte and the people that run it. It's a great resource.

I'd appreciate any recommendations you might have!

I use the Boring Report. Its an aggregator of MSM articles that uses AI to strip out everything but factual information about the events. It's not perfect, it does glitch out a fair amount and does things like only displaying the text of the site's cookie policies and stuff like that, and I wish it had better filtering options. You can click through to the articles its based on if you want to read the deceptive editorializing or see the unrelated photos. https://www.boringreport.org/app

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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!

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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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