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PaperclipPerfector  2yr ago (text post)   23135 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 9, 2023

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I’m going to kill myself soon.

If you're serious, please seek help, and if you're not, please don't throw out attention-seeking suicide threats like this.

You can't "threaten" suicide towards a bunch of strangers who will never know who you are. This is a threat in the exact same way that words are violence, and you're 100% allowed to say ridiculous things for dramatic effect on the Internet, regardless of what The Algorithm (tm) and various dystopian Community Guidelines (tm) says.

I might offer unsolicited medical advice while studying to be a shrink, but you need a real one. More time on the Motte is unlikely to help either.

What help is there to ameliorate the invincible globalist elites being out to get me?

Same help there's always been. God. All you're doing right now is surrendering to the very real demonic forces which have successfully convinced you that not only are you helpless, but there's not even a fight worth fighting. Maybe question those assumptions.

Go to church, make yourself a worthy husband, and raise a solid family that will carry worthwhile values into the next generation. It's about the hardest thing there is to do, but also the worthiest.

And if you're not called to family, then there's about a million and one other things worth doing as well, and many communities of people who will be happy to support you in the work.

I don't know why you think I will support the "global elites who are out to get you" (I don't even know you), but the reason you're talking to me like a fellow human being is that you are required to do so if you want to participate here.

What does that have to do with anything? Do you think the mods are working for these "global elites"? If so, it's news to me, and I'd like to know who to contact about receiving back pay.

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.


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