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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   1497 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 5, 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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I'm legitimately surprised that, to the best of my knowledge, no one made a top-level post in any of the CWR threads about Lindy West's latest memoir, Adult Braces. For the last few weeks it's all that certain corners of the internet have been able to talk about.

Literally who?

I'm assuming you're relatively young and/or you didn't follow the culture war back in the old days? I haven't heard her name in a long time but I remembered it after reading it here. She was a rather active rage-baiting feminist culture warrior and talking head back in the days when the US culture war was focused on the issue of sex as opposed to the issue of race, so roughly before 2014.

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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.


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