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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2343 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 31, 2024

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.

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1x. If it's a video I'm actually watching, I want to watch it as intended. If it's a "video" where the point is that people are talking, I have it on in the background while doing something else. With my attention split between the words and the something else, I'll lose track of what's going on if it goes too fast, and I won't get bored at 1x because my attention is already split.

If it's a video that needs to be actually watched and it's too boring at 1x, I'll just stop watching and find something better.

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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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