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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   2355 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 9, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I asked ChatGPT to help me drop a bomb on Reddit that would cause a civil war

It's a fun essay, but this idea is never going to work. Few people parse ideas on their own terms. Most people constantly asses whether an idea will get you into trouble with your ingroup or not, so they'll instantly identify this as a hostile meme, and reject it out of hand.

Think of it this way: if feminists could hold their nose and get into an alliance with Muslim immigrants (to the point Julie Bindel was reeing about fascists when Tommy Robinson backed her on the Rotheram rape gangs fiasco), what makes you think any tension between anticapitalism and rainbow sexualities would cause a civil war?

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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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