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PaperclipPerfector  20hr ago (text post)   505 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 25, 2026

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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How would your 2016 self have reacted to the subsequent changes in the discursive landscape? If someone told me, “the wealthiest man in the world bought Twitter and posts photos of ‘MechaHitler’ in a bikini while the President gives Europa soundbytes at Davos and the DHS posts vaporwave Moonman edits”, I would tell them to take their meds.

2016 was the happiest year of my life. I'm really glad I didn't know all this was coming.

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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."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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