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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1503 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 9, 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 Slezkine's The Jewish Century. Also adding Taylor's Sources of the Self to my list. Backlog moving slowly.

During my latest digital fast, I tried to read The Man Who Was Thursday. Put it down after just a couple of pages, because I couldn't stand Chesterton's insufferable smugness. Is he always like that?

Lazily going through How Not to Write a Novel. There's only so many jokes you can make about a badly written novel, and my patience with the authors' sense of humor is wearing thin.

Surprised by your reaction to the latter. I've read it so many times there are entire passages I can quote from memory. One of the funniest books I've ever read.

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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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