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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   2345 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 25, 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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Somebody here recommended The Leftovers to me, a show on HBO Max. It's pretty incredible. Not sure why, but it's a very fascinating look into belief and miracles and how they interact with the modern world.

It was probably me, it continues to be my favorite TV series of all time.

Its exploration of belief and non-belief and the social dynamics they engender, of myth-making, of grief and hopelessness captivated me.

I’m a universal darwinist, a materialist atheist but this work of art produced something very similar to a crisis of faith in me and changed the way I feel about my relationship with Reality because it forced me to contend with Mystery with a capital M.

I’m a better person for engaging with it. More confused, more layered, more fearful, more comfortable being afraid, and more comfortable with ambiguity. I was humbled by the experience.

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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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