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.
- 104
- 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 -
what do you think is off about the tone in the first ep?
It’s too goofy. Aang has a serious attention deficit and shouts too much (“Will you go penguin sledding with me?!”), and it’s overall too manic for the sole purpose of not giving away exposition in the first episode.
The show gets so much better once they leave the Southern Water Tribe. But I don’t know any adult friends I could convince to push through till then.
Mmm fair. It is a kids show.
More options
Context Copy link
My wife watched it as a kid and tried to get me to watch it with here not long ago. We stopped after the first 2 episodes because it felt pretty kiddy and her pov was that it must have been more childish than she remembered.
That's understandable, but it's a shame. I think the very next episode is the one where Aang is confronted with physical evidence of the genocide of his entire people in the ruins of his hometown. The humor (and even some slapstick) does stay throughout the series, but it's woven in better.
Then there's this great short scene that hits very hard when you've already seen all of Zuko's antics Uncle Iroh has had to guide him through.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Struck me as very childish. Stopped there.
In retrospect, Hunter X Hunter had the same issue and turned out great. Might be grounds for giving it another shot.
It's literally a kids show hah. But it dives into much more mature themes and handles them better than almost any other show I've seen.
More options
Context Copy link
If you liked hxh, then you will like avatar as well. In fact Hxh imo has serious issues with padding towards the later arcs, while Avatar has solid pacing throughout - if anything, it's the early episodes which feel more like that and it gets better.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link