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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1515 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 28, 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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• Do you have a favorite piece of sacred music?

• Is there any piece from a video game or anime which feels like sacred music to you?

I found the Rachmaninoff all-vocal All Night Vigil work to be good example of this. It may not have as many moments of raw frisson as a rousing symphonic or operatic work, but it deeply touched something spiritual inside me. I particularly enjoyed the technical excellence of the Robert Shaw recording.

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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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