site banner
PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2152 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 6, 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.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

So, what are you reading?

I'm picking up With and Without Galton, an open access book on Vasilii Florinskii and Russian eugenics, or as the author calls it, 'eugamics' (ie. well-married), as distinguished from Galton's eugenics.

Well I just finished The Geneva convention(s). So I started with a new book "In another world with my smartphone"

The Geneva suggestion convention is a way more interesting read when you have all the cultural context of people calling things war crimes. It's a lot of fun to read and go "wow that isn't a war crime and the amount of effort it puts into this is really fun. (admittedly I was also watching an anime with a bunch of people in /r/anime and just recording the war crimes comitted by the good/bad guys (mostly the good guys) really made it a lot more fun of a read.

It's a lot of fun to read and go "wow that isn't a war crime

Can you give some examples of things which were described as war crimes but which actually weren't?

White Phosphorous munitions is the most common one you'll see online.

But there's also "firing at fleeing soldiers" "Double tapping" (very controversial but probably not a war crime though it can be a war crime in certain circumstances)

Also what counts as a child soldier depends on the treaty, for example the Geneva convention sets the age at 15, but OPAC defines it as below 18. (most nations have signed OPAC)

One funny thing about watching an anime with people was going "yeah meteor bombing the city was not a war crime but Inaho(the main character) using the school as a command post was because there was a hospital next door to his command post"

Double tapping

Is that when you fire twice at someone's chest?

Shooting at somebody after you've already hit them.

Shoot>Hit>Shoot again to make sure they're actually dead.

I think it's when the bomb site is bombed again after emergency personnel and allies/relatives have shown up... Bombing a funeral would be similar.

"Double-tap" is a rapid pair of aimed shots. They're probably referring to a game-of-telephone version of "dead-checking", where you shoot a downed enemy to make sure they're dead.

yeah it's gotten game of telephoned indeed. I heard it get called Double tapping in justin Taylor's youtube channel figuring that's probably a more "modern term" than what legal scholars from the 70s were saying...

The other place I read it is https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wvlr/vol108/iss3/10/ which is an article from 2006

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