site banner
PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   2665 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 16, 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.

0
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Nah, Turkey's got that little bit to the NW of Istanbul that I think counts, so partial credit. I guess historically it's more a production of the "European Broadcasting Union" as a media co-op, but still, what sell-outs

Azerbaijan is also considered to be partially in Europe, due to the funky way Europe's usually defined (part of it is north of the Greater Caucasus, and Europe is defined with the boundary being Urals-Caspian Sea-Greater Caucasus-Black Sea).

@FtttG

Hot take: "Europe" is only a separate continent because geographers have a very eurocentric view in drawing the lines. Every other continent has a pretty clear separation from its neighbors by sea or at least small isthmus. "Eurasia" makes more sense from the map.

Not Eurocentric; Med-centric. This one goes back to Ancient Greece, and when you're a maritime civilisation in the Mediterranean there are three big lumps of land of relatively-similar coastline around it: Europe, Africa, and (West) Asia. From the Med's point of view, Europe and Asia are separate, because of the Turkish Straits; it's only if you know/care about the far shore of the Black Sea that they seem connected.

EDIT: It's dubious how much relevance this has to history, but it should be noted that there have been times within human habitation that the Caspian Sea has become connected to the Black Sea. There may be again, if we melt the Antarctic Ice Sheet. With the Caspian connected to the Black, and thus the Med, Europe starts looking considerably more like its own thing.

Tired: Europe is a continent

Wired: Europe is not a continent

Inspired: Europe is a continent, and so is India

Yeah, admittedly Turkey and Azerbaijan are edge cases as far as geography goes. Culturally, on the other hand...

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!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats