site banner
PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   3034 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for November 10, 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.

2
Bottom New Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I kept asking myself why the big mountain of muscle kept throwing his disarmed and physically weaker opponent away from him where he ended up repeatedly grabbing improvised weapons, instead of just grabbing him and choking/beating him to death in a more controlled fashion.

This is one of those movie tropes that I've come to just depressingly accept at this point. Maybe action movies have always relied on this as a get-out-of-jail-free card to deal with situations when the hero needs to fight someone clearly much bigger and stronger than them, but I've certainly noticed it a lot more over the past decade or so. The generally well-received episode of Game of Thrones, Hardhome, was basically completely ruined for me because of this trope where Jon Snow should've been killed ten times over before his dramatic discovery of the effects of Valyrian steel on White Walkers. It sure would be nice of scriptwriters and action choreographers cared about building a fight scene around its combatants and the back and forth of their actions and reactions to each other in the fight instead of around spectacle and plot convenience, but the latter is much easier, I'm sure.

Hell, I was thinking the same thing watching Thor throw around Iron Man in Duplex’s example. His most effective move was literally just squeezing.

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