site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  6mo ago (text post)   29915 thread views

Israel-Gaza Megathread #2

This is a refreshed megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.

6
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Assuming you're not outright trolling, a glance over your brief post history here suggests that you have not yet really grasped the spirit of the rules.

This is not the place to wage the culture wars; this is the place to discuss them with people who disagree with you. That means making your claims less-than-maximally-inflammatory, furnishing evidence in proportion to how inflammatory they are, speaking about specific rather than general groups, writing in a way that invites everyone to participate in the conversation, not building consensus or recruiting for a cause, and so on. Your post should evidence some measure of asking yourself "why do I believe what I believe" and "what would it take to change my mind?"

Basically, please don't post like this.

This makes me more curious as to what the post actually was.

I can still see it. Can't you?

Deleted by author

Yeah it's gone now. He (not sure if I should mention who it was) suggested that the West should expel all Jews, seizing their assets and concentrating them in Israel, cut them off from all trade and set Iran against them.

I see it now. When I first hopped into this thread, it just said "filtered"

And after reading it, it kinda made me want to reply in a way that may be skirting the rules. I almost think it's a false flag comment. That's how outside the overton window it is.

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