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PaperclipPerfector  18hr ago (text post)   766 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 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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So, what are you reading?

I'm still on Macpherson's Possessive Individualism and the rest of the backlog. Slow progress. Also reading Legend of the Galactic Heroes again.

Also reading Legend of the Galactic Heroes again.

I tried watching the anime, after it seeing it shared as an example of a "rational"(ish) anime.

The first episode (all that I bothered watching) disappointed me greatly. The so-called strategic genius won a fleet battle against all odds by using tactics obvious to a particularly bright seven year old. Someone tell me if it's worth persisting despite poor first impressions.

Strategy-wise, don't expect anything too impressive.

LoGH runs on the strength of its (many) characters, the variety of its situations, its sometimes impressive handling of serious topics, the fairly well-developed political and social standpoints of the two main protagonists, and the remarkably high quality of the dialogue. And of course, the unforgettable Yang Wen-li.

(I'm talking about the original anime. The remake is quite good, but not as good.)

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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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