site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   811 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 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.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Via evolving parenthood experience, it's recently come to my attention that the Boy Scouts no longer exist, but rather a co-ed institution called "Scouting America". Boys and girls welcomed equally. No scout troop for males only.

Girl Scouts? Same as it ever was. Girls only.

How is this not a layup discrimination lawsuit? I can't even find any online discourse about it; any attempt to Google the topic simply directs me to the scouts "anti-discrimination" efforts.

Many anti-discrimination laws have carve-outs with reasonings like "to redress historical injustices" etc., which is how womens' groups of all kinds remain legal.

Technically, aren't most of these groups private clubs, who can be as discriminatory as they like? You can have your white men’s club just as much as you want(although dues are likely well beyond your price range).

You can have your white men’s club just as much as you want

Ha. Good one.

They literally exist. Many fraternities and unions are this in practice, a few country clubs maintain it as explicit policy, and of course there’s the hells angels.

a few country clubs maintain it as explicit policy

which ones?

there’s the hells angels

no, the hell's angels are not explicitly whites only

Don't gaslight me. The federal government has come down HARD on all-white organizations for a long time. I seriously doubt you can find any explicitly all-white country clubs. If there are still one or two, it must be at the cost of extreme social censure.

Also, you left out prison gangs.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) belongs to an "all white + jews" club. He's very serious about systemic racism, but he just keeps forgetting to check and see if the private, exclusive club he belongs to has admitted any brown people yet. Stop snickering. It's [D]ifferent.

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