site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   3166 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 20, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Drop whatever you're doing and watch this:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kRaEXDJAEM8

I won't explain. I can't explain.

Somewhat funny watching very online people / nerds discover the state of a lot of contemporary multimedia (we could use the word multimodal) art over the last 20 years. Of course the references in a default show at a Gagosian or whatever will be more ‘normie’, but the spirit - a jumbled, largely incoherent reflection on the itself incoherent shared reference library of modernity - is the same.

I've been to modern art exhibits. If they were this good (I don't know what the fuck the point of the video was, but it made me feel things), then I'd be much more positive about modern/post-modern art.

Some are very good, but you have to sort the good from the bad. In a way it’s like the internet. Because the contemporary art world has no real relationship to meritocracy (since almost everyone involved, at every level from artist to gallerist to dealer to buyer to journalist to viewer, is rich because almost nobody is making any money) bad pieces or showings are marketed the same as good ones. Price has no relationship with quality. So, like YouTube, your own research is necessary, and over time you find what you like, which gallerists have similar tastes, etc. One good thing if you ever move to London is that so few people really care that the motivated individual can essentially gallery-hop for free champagne every Thursday if he or she so chooses. Occasionally you even see something very good.

What the fuck did I just watch?

A tendril from the posthuman intelligence at the end of time reaching back to instantiate itself, I think. Potentially advanced memetic warfare from Alpha Centauri. You can tell me if you've got a better guess.

This is somewhere between the best multimodal art I've seen and a good depiction of a descent into psychosis. A few trans people in the comments say it's what estrogen feels like, but I don't intend to find out.

I commute roughly 2.5 hours a day, spend until bedtime with my daughter, another hour or two with my wife before she falls asleep, and then I have 15 precious minutes to myself before I need to go to bed so I don't die on the interstate in a sleep deprived stupor in the morning.

So thanks for that I guess. It was at least interesting.

What's that saying again? "Art should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed"?

Well, it sounds to me like you're far from comfortable, so I can only apologize for the disturbing content. It opened up my Third Eye, and then gave it glaucoma. It uncalcified my pineal gland, and gave me a minor stroke in the process.

Eh, it's less that, and more relief that the madness of amateur flash cartoons just migrated over to Gary's Mod apparently. I'm happy someone has kept the flame alive.

I mean, Idiots of GMod was always mad.

I watched it and now I can't explain either.

I don't think there is a sufficient quantity of drugs in the entire supply chain to explain.

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