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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   2577 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for July 7, 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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Very true. I also love reading, learning, doing research, and feel I have interesting takes. Besides, I enjoy the creative parts of writing, and when I get into the flow of it, it works well.

I'd say the issue is more that I've had creativity and doing work I enjoy like writing beaten out of me because I have so many other demands in my life to juggle. Writing is one of those things I love to do when I have the time and energy, but I very rarely do nowadays. An interesting conundrum.

Do you write anything outside of Motte posts?

I've written a few short stories and I used to have a blog, but over the last few years the only writing I do is commenting like this. I have some hope of doing some more substantial writing when my kids are older, but I don't plan on writing professionally.

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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."

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