site banner
PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   2941 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 8, 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.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Anyone playing Starfield?

Waiting for a “Grounded” mod like there is for Fallout 4 to remove woke, pronouns, and redo the racial makeup. I’ll still pirate it.

redo the racial makeup

What’s the problem with the racial makeup of Starfield?. Interestingly the game is actually a lot ‘whiter’ than a linear extrapolation of earth demographics would suggest, like at least half the population is white when whites will be like 5-10% (or less) of the earth’s population by the end of this century.

From my understanding of physics, "a linear extrapolation" of our knowledge of the universe doesn't lead to instant fast travel by end of this century. Yet Bethesda didn't ask space engineers how fast they think spaceships might go in the period the game takes place, and prevented the player from going faster.

Yeah but my point is that most ‘anti-woke’ criticism of diversity in medieval fantasy settings is stuff like how it doesn’t make sense for a small village to be ethnically diverse, or complaints that the demographics of the Northern Kingdoms were altered dramatically by Netflix or whatever. This can extend to stuff like the Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age that have settings loosely inspired by medieval Europe.

But complaining about diversity in a game set in 2330 seems…misguided. Whether @grognard likes it or not, it doesn’t really seem far fetched for Starfield to have a diverse “racial makeup”, so I’m interested in what offends him about it.

A broken clock can still be right twice a day. If these racist companies enjoy erasing white people from everything, eventually they'll get lucky and strike upon a fiction where it's plausible.

Doesn't change that I already know they are racist and don't wish to give them my money.

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!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats