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naraburns  nihil supernum  11mo ago (text post)   3972 thread views

Quality Contributions Report for May 2023

This is the Quality Contributions Roundup. It showcases interesting and well-written comments and posts from the period covered. If you want to get an idea of what this community is about or how we want you to participate, look no further (except the rules maybe--those might be important too).

As a reminder, you can nominate Quality Contributions by hitting the report button and selecting the "Actually A Quality Contribution!" option. Additionally, links to all of the roundups can be found in the wiki of /r/theThread which can be found here. For a list of other great community content, see here.

These are mostly chronologically ordered. Here we go:

Quality Contributions in the Main Motte

@ControlsFreak:

@OracleOutlook:

@DaseindustriesLtd:

@Ethan:

@gattsuru:

@Unsaying:

@netstack:

@ymeskhout:

Contributions for the week of May 1, 2023

@Quantumfreakonomics:

@ApplesauceIrishCream:

@FiveHourMarathon:

@RandomRanger:

@Primaprimaprima:

@raggedy_anthem:

@Goodguy:

@Felipe:

@coffee_enjoyer:

Contributions for the week of May 8, 2023

@self_made_human:

@Folamh3:

@naraburns:

@FiveHourMarathon:

@MadMonzer:

@ymeskhout:

@cjet79:

Contributions for the week of May 15, 2023

@Pasha:

@huadpe:

@Primaprimaprima:

@Soriek:

@FCfromSSC:

@FarNearEverywhere:

@raggedy_anthem:

Contributions for the week of May 22, 2023

@ymeskhout:

@cjet79:

@DaseindustriesLtd:

@SecureSignals:

@Soriek:

@hydroacetylene:

@urquan:

@erwgv3g34:

@felis-parenthesis:

@HlynkaCG:

@FCfromSSC:

Contributions for the week of May 29, 2023

@ryandv:

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Ugh, this is exactly how I felt when I wrote the original post.

Did you read the rest of my post? I spent multiple paragraphs talking about how I'm vaguely aware of the man and his presidency.

I went back and edited the wording. It says war-hawks instead of military industrial complex. If you feel this is wrong too, I don't care. I'd beg you not to tell me if I thought that would work.

Have you ever been dragged along to a social event that you have no interest in? Maybe its a church event for a religion you are not a part of. Or maybe its a sport that you don't care about. Or maybe a political rally with the wrong team. Anyways, you try to make the best of things and spark up conversations with people. You always start the conversation NOT about the thing you don't care for. You avoid the topic as much as possible. But it doesn't matter. In the end you are screwed, because everyone else is here for that one thing. And the conversation will ALWAYS go back to it. Now imagine you finally get out of the event and you are outside with your friends. You are complaining "ugh it always comes back around to that topic, I just want to talk about other things with people, I only sort of care about the topic because of this one minor [thing x]". Some stranger overhears "Did you just say [thing x]!? Let me tell you what i think of [thing x]..."

Yikes, now I feel bad. Sorry.

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.


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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.

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