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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   3559 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 19, 2023

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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Which singular social or nature-oriented experiences filled you with the greatest enthusiasm and rejuvenation? I have noticed many people in my life pick “music festival”.

Breaking through enough of a person's emotional knots to break them out of a social local optima.

Getting someone to make up with someone that they falsely thought hated them...

Getting someone to confess their love to someone they thought would reject them but is totally crushing on them...

That sort of thing.

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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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