site banner
PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   2659 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 30, 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.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Rome and The Sopranos are both pretty good though I'm not a fan of HBO's "Obligatory tits in every episode" MO.

Deadwood and the Wire belong on this list (above the Sopranos, at least).

The Wire's aesthetics are too repellent for me to countenance; I think I tried Deadwood but it wasn't right for me at the time. May try again. IIRC I found the swearing excessive to the point of obnoxiousness, but maybe that was some other show.

No, the excessive swearing is definitely Deadwood. I found that the language (not just the swearing, but it was part of it) set the environment for me.

No, that sounds like Deadwood lol -- if it makes you like it better, as I recall it was a considered artistic decision in that the characters are basically the underbelly of society and would in fact have been swearing all the time as a class signifier if nothing else. Period-correct swears were considered but came off as sounding quaint and silly, so they went with all-cocksucker-all-the-time.

I'm just not going to immerse myself in that.

Fair, IMO. I did watch Deadwood and considered it okay for a TV show, certainly better than most even if it not quite on the level of Rome, but subpar as a western, precisely because it lacked all the grandeur of the genre and was always so sordid. Maybe that's realistic, but it's not something that I really want.

I'll give you Rome, but that was a long time ago.

They both were.

I'm trying to think of anything since and can't, really.

I didn't mean to discount The Sopranos; I elided it because I've never seen it. Probably never will; it's not really a topic I'm interested in.

But yes I agree with your assessment, as far as Rome is concerned. I watched Rome and was done with TV. That was very much peak television and I entirely quit the medium since.

I'll say in favor of The Sopranos that's it's a fairly meta treatment of the genre. It's not The Godfather or Wise Guys; it's people living in (1999) modern era who (explicitly) grew up watching that stuff but find themselves in a very different world where the old ways aren't working any more. A major thread is the main-character mob boss going to his therapist. Much more interesting.

I'm not sure that's really a point in its favor; to me at least. This may be smoothbrained, but I prefer a sincere treatment of a topic over a meta one.

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