site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1750 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 1, 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.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I thought of Big Muzzy, BBC film for learning languages again. There is much of culture war angle to it. Some facts:

The royal couple has only 1 child, which can be considered as low-TFR propaganda.

The gardener (Bob) and the king's advisor (Corwax) are trying to win love of the princess.

Corvax is heavy computer user and lives in the attic or royal house.

Bob is shorter than the princess and Corvax is the tallest character except Muzzy.

Of course the princess loves Bob.

Annoyed, Corvax uses his computer to create a duplicate of the princess, which doesn't like him much like the original. Due to mistake, the computer gets in infinite loop of producing duplicates, who roam the palace.

Corvax tries to escape in a helicopter which Bob grabs and then wins in a helicopter fight (how does he know how to fly?) while eponymous character arranges freeing the king and duplicates "returned back to the computer".

Bob marries the princess, happy end.

Bob & Corvax are voiced by the same actor.

so... did authors say incels were bad before were word for incel?

You missed the real culture war for a made up one.

The newest version of Muzzy omits all of the references to the queen being fat. I found this very frustrating because fat is a super important/basic word. But it's also a major plot point in the sequel that the queen gets stuck between two rocks because she is fat. (The video plays the same here and shows her getting stuck, but the audio goes blank for a bit and the narrator doesn't say that she gets stuck because she is fat.) It's a funny moment that should be teaching kids how to say "because" type clauses that gets removed. "Because" is a hard concept to teach through examples like this, so it's super frustrating that they removed one of the only examples.

Source: I used Muzzy to teach my kids Spanish and Korean.

Also, Corvax is legitimately cruel and evil. That's why the princess rejects him.

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