site banner
bolido_sentimental  1yr ago (text post)   3349 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas, everyone!

4
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Merry Christmas, everyone. So, what are you reading?

I'm starting Balaji Srinivasan's The Network State. From skimming it, it looks like it touches on lots of contemporary things.

I'm re-working my way through the Harry Potter series for the first time in about a decade.

Currently about halfway through Goblet of Fire and overcome with nostalgic love.

Her prose is pretty basic but the humor, imagination, and world-building are top-tier. As an adult looking back, you can really see the depth of the British influence on these books. Boarding school, dry humor, Dickensian names, some undertones of Arthur Conan Doyle mystery, etc.

I really hope that the controversy around her political views doesn't start to overshadow how incredible these books are. I already see it happening on Reddit whenever Harry Potter is brought up. People are starting to memory hole Harry Potter as if it wasn't one of the biggest cultural phenomenons of the past century.

I “read” the Jim Dale audiobooks last year, and I was impressed by the YA dystopia in books 5-7. The banality of bureaucratic evil punctuated by horrors for people who cross the powers that be, a governmental shift into pre-genocide policies, and a keen awareness that one’s mortal enemies have the levers of the ultimate power of the state.

As 2020 (the year of perfect hindsight) turned into “twenty-twenty won” and “twenty-twenty too” (yes, I’m referencing Meme Magic), I’ve become keenly aware of how realistic her scenario was.

world-building are top-tier.

Her world-building is in an interesting place to me. It's evocative, creative, interesting... but then falls apart the deeper you delve into it. I think she makes an understandable mistake of trying to go into more detail later (its what everyone wants to know!), and it just doesnt seem to work.

Kind of like Narnia, I suppose, except that C.S. Lewis doesn't feel the need to try to explain where Mr. Tumnus was doing his shopping, for the better.

It's clear from the start that the world building is non committal, she starts off with a lot of stuff she hadn't thought about following through on. Starting from the sorting hat and the houses, which are naturally one of the coolest parts of the world, but Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are basically pointless from the beginning.

Hermione obviously should have been a Ravenclaw and Ron and Neville obviously should have been Hufflepuff. Making Gryffindor basically the "you have the guts to matter" house is silly. Making the smartest and most loyal characters avoid the houses for smart and loyal people makes those houses obvious downgrades.

I wouldn't worry about that. My nieces are nephews are all becoming obsessed with Harry Potter and the parents are very happy about it.

Roald Dahl was antisemitic and kids still read his books. They're still being adapted into plays and films too.

I agree that the books are superb. Rowling has a real ability to add 'colour' to her world. Like the weird currency or the every flavour beans. Small things like that make it a much richer experience.

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