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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   2248 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 29, 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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Normally I would too, but...

- Remember son, never trust the Jews!
- You know nothing, father! I've made lots of Jewish friends this year, they're nothing like you say.
- Oh god, Donny, what have you done?!
- My name is Adrianna now!

Is not the most fortunate look.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree here, provided you have the right (meta) frame of reference.

In this case, witness the results of genetics predicting a higher likelihood of "latching hard onto the dominant counter-cultural-but-actually-not-really social issue of the day and holding onto it throughout the rest of one's life".

In the '70s, that narrative was white supremacy; in the modern day (late '10s), that narrative is gyno/trans supremacy.

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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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