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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   3830 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 18, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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HobbyDrama, 4chan, this place, celebrity gossip, AskReddit, WSB and most of TikTok are all nonfiction, so men and women are well-represented as readers there.

What’s the male equivalent to the fiction that women read? Well, porn in some cases, I guess. But in most it’s the fiction in video games, it’s Stalker, it’s Assassin’s Creed, it’s Dead Space, it’s The Last of Us, it’s Baldur’s Gate, it’s Red Dead Redemption (obviously all these have women players, but the the majority of playtime by hours is men).

Licensed fiction. I’ve probably read more Star Trek, Star Wars, movie, and video game adaptation books by volume, plus fanfiction, than original works.

Same here. And it’s not like I avoiding physical reading. Just…once I had an unlimited backlog of interesting media in my pocket, it became a very easy leisure activity.

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.


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