site banner
PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   1797 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for November 14, 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.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

On Sunday morning my girlfriend and I left our apartment building, which opens on to a little pedestrian lane. Directly opposite the entrance is another apartment complex and a shisha café, and standing outside was one of the most gopnik-looking Slavs you've ever seen: navy tracksuit, white sneakers, baseball cap. We assumed he was waiting for someone, although he'd incongruously placed two full canisters of nitrous oxide on the path in front of him.

We leave to do some shopping, and when we come back a few hours later he hasn't budged. Watching him from the window in our flat, he starts openly huffing the nitrous. I'm a bit put out by someone openly huffing nitrous oxide in broad daylight in a pedestrian thoroughfare with small children walking past with their parents, so I call the police, who never show up.

However, a few minutes later, the proprietor of the shisha café (an Arab man) comes out of the building and tells the gopnik to get lost, which he does immediately. Problem solved.

This little encounter inspired me to invent a new game I'm calling Ethnic Rock-Paper-Scissors. As we can clearly see from the exchange above, Arab beats Slav. Slav, of course, beats Jew. And who does Jew beat? Why, Arab obviously.

When I explained the concept to my brother, he proposed that Roman > Anglo, Anglo > Celt, and Celt > Roman. His friend suggested that Pakistani > Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi > Indian, and Indian > Pakistani.

What others can you think of? Note that I'm specifically looking for ethnic groups, not nationalities ("Vietnamese > American" doesn't count, because the American soldiers in Vietnam were multi-ethnic).

Turks > Greeks > Italians > Turks

Mongols > Turks > Egyptians > Mongols

Off the top of my head I have one from East Asia: Mongols > Chinese, Chinese > Vietnamese, Vietnamese > Mongols.

The last of these three is the most tenuous due to persistent ambiguities about the success of the Mongol Empire's first invasion of Vietnam, as well as about whether the Yuan dynasty's later campaigns into Vietnam should be considered Mongol expeditions due to how sinified and multi-ethnic the dynasty and its armies were (though if "Roman armies" are admissible as a coherent ethnic group really anything goes). But it's the best I can do at the moment.

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