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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   3629 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 30, 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.

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What motivates you to post on this site? Anything in particular?

I got accused of projecting last night while drunk-replying (always a bad idea) and I realized that's totally right. I project constantly when I write online, and I'm okay with it. A lot of my motivation for writing is to get my ideas out there, test them against the intellectual mettle of folks I respect, and ideally making my ideas into a more cohesive shape.

I post because It's a place where I can easily get negative engagement with my values. EDIT: COHERENT negative engagement; I can just look at blue check twitter if I want drooling morons who disagree with me.

The majority of people here are wrong on the facts and have bad axioms from my standpoint, but I might be wrong. So, I come here every now and again to look at the people that disagree with me to see if I disagree with them.

What are some of the values that are contentious here?

non vaccine skepticism, non-full fat capitalist, non-HBD, non-raceblindness, historical revisionism, non-isolationism, etc.

Those are the ones that always get me negative internet good boy points.

The ones where I usually even out to zero are being non-Christiaan nationalist and antitheist, or supporting the left side on any culture war topic (eg, it was bad that Neely got choked to death, etc.).

Ukraine is an interesting one; I get wildly different reactions on being a strong anti Neo-Imperial Russia mark depending on who is online that day.

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!


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