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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   9469 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025

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I don't see where "rationality" even comes into the picture here. If we were modding people for being "irrational", we would have far fewer participants left.

As it stands, your comment is a non-sequitur. To assess the rationality of armed resistance to what you perceive as a hostile state is not in my remit as a moderator. Questions of rationality don't even come into the warning/tempban here. He was building consensus, being a culture warrior, and so on and so forth. Fedposting isn't in the sidebar rules last time I checked, but we frown on it because:

  1. It goes against the culture and ethos of this forum. Doesn't get much more heated than that.

  2. Zorba prefers the FBI don't kick his door down. We're all here at his behest, and on his sufferance.

You want to discuss your to natural rights to defend yourself against a state? Buddy, that's half of all we talk about over here. But if things have gotten so bad across the pond that you feel the need to form a militia and shoot the AG, then take it to Facebook. And if everyone else feels that way, I think moderation guidelines will be a less than pressing concern during a civil war.

And if everyone else feels that way, I think moderation guidelines will be a less than pressing concern during a civil war.

10/10.

Can we put this on the sidebar?

I don't see where "rationality" even comes into the picture here. If we were modding people for being "irrational", we would have far fewer participants left.

Aren't we a rationalist forum? I've always thought so, at least; a part of the rationalist diaspora, if a few steps removed from LessWrong/Overcoming Bias.

Not really, and IMO the old-guard movement is a shell of itself. I certainly wouldn't count any of Scott's other commentariat-zones as 'rationalist,' either.

I wish, I really do. Unfortunately, this place is best described as rationalist-adjacent, which is the next best thing.

LW? The ur-rats.

Scott himself? Of course.

SSC/ACX and the subreddit? Mostly the case.

Us? The blood is a bit diluted.

Of course, this is my personal opinion, but IMO, a real "rationalist" forum includes more explicit discussions of the tenets of rationality itself, which we really don't do very often. We have high standards for discourse, we have people using Bayesian arithmetic when they feel like it, but we are a more general interest kinda place. And that's fine!

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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!

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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."

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