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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   2658 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 20, 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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Whoah, haven't seen you post in a while. Or maybe I wasn't paying attention.

edit: Wasn't trying to sound like an ass, was genuinely thinking you haven't posted in a while.

I haven't posted in a while. In fact I haven't visited in a while. That's not the mottes fault it's the internets fault, there's just much more important things like work and vacations happening in the real world.

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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."

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