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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1659 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Imagine a religion teaching that everything has secret traits that are more important than the mundane ones and not only unobservable, but must be accepted as true in order to be a good person.

If anything, "Transwomen are Women" is the transubstantiation of progressivism.

Indeed, the primary schism in trans-affirming circles boils down to "trans women aren't really women, but we should treat them as if they are to spare their feelings" (i.e. consubstantiation) and "no, trans women are literally women, with all that that implies" (i.e. transubstantiation). The more things change, the more they stay the same.

And the frustrating thing is, sometimes consubstantiation is the motte and transubstantiation is the bailey. Catholics rarely pretend to be Protestants in order to make their beliefs seem more palatable to the godless.

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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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