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PaperclipPerfector  18hr ago (text post)   464 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 23, 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.

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What is your favorite part about your parish, if you attend church?

Or your social group, if not!

Personally I love that I go to a Greek church and they all kiss each other on the cheek. I love the physical warmth there.

I like our pastor a lot. He's a young-ish (in his 30s) guy from Brazil, who really strives to care for all the people of our parish. He also doesn't make any pretensions to holiness - I've heard him talk at various points about the sins he has struggled with at times, and how if you were to talk to any of his friends from Brazil they would say it's a miracle that he joined the priesthood. He's the model of what a priest should be like imo, and I'm really grateful we have him.

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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.


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