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Notes -
Just adding your weekly reminder that the Motte remains the brightest and best hope for open discourse on the internet. Be proud and relieved you are a Mottizen - we have made it to the shining City on the Hill, the one place online where truth and free speech are protected.
I'm doing all this grandstanding because I'm flabbergasted that right now Tildes, one of the other 'reddit-alternatives' that claims to stand for open and intellectual discourse, is actively and unapologetically censoring anything to do with the UAP hearings.
Many of the users there are rightly pointing out that it's insane that the moderators would block discussion about a literal Congressional hearing... but this is the doublethink that we Mottizens are up against:
Again, luckily there is some actual pushback on the site itself. But please, my fellow Mottizens, let this open display of intolerance remind you to keep your guard strong. Keep your eyes focused directly on the goal, and remember that if we let ourselves be distracted by our petty differences, the Motte may well become the same censored cesspool as the rest of the internet.
Be strong my brothers and sisters, and never forget the incredible and unique nature of this Forum that we have built. Don't take the Motte for granted, and be swift and sure when defending it.
Veritas omnia vincet.
I had a look at the posts on tildes you linked and I'm flabbergasted myself. Maybe this is because I spent most of my time on forums which made themselves egregiously offensive on purpose in order to drive away people incapable of rising above those base responses, maybe it's just all the Nietzsche I've been reading... but the posters there seem absolutely pathetic and, despite their pretensions, utterly incapable of holding interesting conversations or opinions.
When you're so terrified of giving oxygen to the wrong kind of people or views that you demand the janitors sweep these horrifying, low-status opinions away because even seeing them causes you significant distress, you are fundamentally incapable of participating in a serious discussion on the topic. I might not agree with the neonazis, feminists, neocons or anarchosyndicalists but I have no problem reading their takes or views (I actually find engaging with beliefs I do not hold myself to be fun!) - if their arguments are bad I get to laugh at them, and if they're good then I get to have fun engaging with them seriously. But either way I actually understand their position and what they're arguing about. Without an understanding of what your opponents actually believe, how can you possibly talk intelligently about the issues that motivate them, let alone claim to have the correct position on an issue when you only understand one side's arguments?
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