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ymeskhout  1yr ago (text post)   4710 thread views

What is your favorite Motte post ever?

I'm curious about not just what your favorite post is, but also what you think is the GOAT, or perhaps what you think is most illustrative and representative of this space (e.g. what would you show someone to get them intrigued). Please limit your post to only ONE pick and briefly explain why you chose it. This can be from anywhere within the Motte's history thus far, and r/TheThread is a good place to check in case you're having trouble finding something. Asking for a friend.

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'The longstanding open question here is over what "charity" means: does it mean being honest in your assessment of your enemies, or does it mean not recognizing "enemy" as a valid category? I hold to the former. The mods have not, to date, deigned to enforce the later. When they adopt that policy, my participation in this forum will end and I imagine the discourse will, from your perspective, improve immensely.'

Craven and I may have butted heads numerous times over the years but that's one of my favorites as well. That and McJunkers' civil war posts, both Irish civil war and American.

I don't remember much in the way of butting heads. I do remember a few brief conversations in particular that provided two extremely valuable insights: the futility of pursuing the exterior form of Conservative ends from a frame of fundamentally progressive values, and the difference between Conservative and Progressive concepts of victory, of The Good Life, and how the former necessarily demands the capacity to accept loss. Both took a while to sink in properly, but they had a huge impact on my understanding of both my own thinking and the world I see around me. I participate here because I have questions and want answers. I got a number of really good questions from reading Scott. The best answers I've gotten came from you. To the extent that my contributions here don't reflect that, it's a lamentable failure on my part.

The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.

The sequence leading to this was memorable, though I can understand framing it as disagreement and exploration over butting heads.

McJunker's history posts are my favorites, by far. I really enjoy FCfromSSC's output, and I consider it some of the most accurate culture war observations on the motte, but reading some wholesome history in the middle of all the culture warring simply felt best.

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