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.
- 241
- 3
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
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
cackles in way-too-autistic-about-guns
The Garand is neat, the SVT-40 is cooler and I would argue a better rifle (fight me), the G/K.43 is interesting but ultimately a poor design, the G.41 is a terrible design, the No. 1 Mk. 3 is gorgeous but ultimately a mediocre rifle as is the No. 4 Mk. 1, the K.98 is nice but it has been dramatically overhyped by fanboys, the M91/30 Mosin is a piece of shit but I love it dearly, the M1886/M93 Lebel is a very cool rifle that I wish more people didn't know about so I could buy one for less than $1000, the Berthier does not interest me in the slightest, the MAS-36 has ugly metalwork but works like a champ, Arisakas are interesting solely because their action is so unbelievably fucking strong, and I have absolutely no opinion on the million fucking Carcano variants other than to say that Italian WW2 rifles hold absolutely zero interest for me.
If you're interested in starting a collection on the cheap I recommend going back in time to 2004. Otherwise, prepare to spend a lot of money.
Fine: its trigger is significantly worse, its magazines aren't really interchangeable and its stripper clips are slower and more awkward to use, and its sights are far worse. Barrel's also too thin to get good accuracy without upwards pressure at the muzzle (which is also something sporterized No. 1s have problems with: the Garand has stocking problems too, but not to this degree, and there's less of an unsupported hole in the stock due to its internal magazine which would prove to be a problem in M14s) so inferior Soviet worksmanship (and even more inferior refurbishment) has severe consequences. Also, it cracks at the tang unless you have the heavier AVT-40 stock on it.
Well, aside from its gas system, which is totally coincidentally lifted wholesale from the SVT-40. Shame its default settings beat the gun to death, not that it was a concern for the Germans at the time.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link