site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3676 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 19, 2023

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.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Any of you ever lost a friend to transgenderism? How'd it happen and how'd you cope?

Pretty CW-ish but I've gone through it a couple of times.

I saw a post on here recently that resonated with me - that it's not uncommon for transgender folks to be those that failed at being their birth gender. I don't know if that post cracked down and settled whether it's the chicken or the egg in terms of dysphoria.

One of my best male friends in college was an excellent, left-libertarian presence in my life. He had a history of performing very poorly with women, had passed the age of acceptable virginity, and took much of the feminist-consent culture war stuff far too seriously, and so was considered a pussy even when he got a date.

This culminated in him finally getting a girlfriend but arriving at her apartment to see himself being viciously cuckolded by her roommate. It was obvious he had been treated as such throughout the whole experience.

Their hair got longer, the friend group got smaller and more queer, the politics got less freedom-y. The white-collar job fell through with a surprise weed hair test. 6 months later they added an 'e' to their name and swapped genders.

The common thread among all the trans people I know is extremely strong social pressure to not identify as cis. If you live in an environment long enough where being trans has such cachet, I feel like your chances of at least experimenting with it become comparatively massive.

My friend was someone who I was considering as a groomsman at my wedding, but now the experience of talking to them long distance while they eke out a meager existence in an alien social situation is difficult. I don't know what to say when you have an engineering degree but have made such incorrect personal choices that you can barely afford rent in a low COL area.

Transition is a "fuck you, I quit" to the problems of gender.

Nope. Going full "aro ace" - aromantic asexual is the ultimate fuck you to all gender problems, the ultimate liberation.

Fly the sunset flag and be chill.

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