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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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Lazuli 24d ago (text post) 450 thread views

Weekly NFL Thread: Week 9

Let's chat about the National Football League: This week's schedule (all times Eastern):

Thu 2024-10-31 8:15PM Houston Texans @ New York Jets
Sun 2024-11-03 1:00PM Dallas Cowboys @ Atlanta Falcons
Sun 2024-11-03 1:00PM Denver Broncos @ Baltimore Ravens
Sun 2024-11-03 1:00PM Miami Dolphins @ Buffalo Bills
Sun 2024-11-03 1:00PM New Orleans Saints @ Carolina Panthers
Sun 2024-11-03 1:00PM New England Patriots @ Tennessee Titans
Sun 2024-11-03 1:00PM Las Vegas Raiders @ Cincinnati Bengals
Sun 2024-11-03 1:00PM Los Angeles Chargers @ Cleveland Browns
Sun 2024-11-03 1:00PM Washington Commanders @ New York Giants
Sun 2024-11-03 4:05PM Chicago Bears @ Arizona Cardinals
Sun 2024-11-03 4:05PM Jacksonville Jaguars @ Philadelphia Eagles
Sun 2024-11-03 4:25PM Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers
Sun 2024-11-03 4:25PM Los Angeles Rams @ Seattle Seahawks
Sun 2024-11-03 8:20PM Indianapolis Colts @ Minnesota Vikings
Mon 2024-11-04 8:15PM Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Kansas City Chiefs

Jump in the discussion.

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Pitt19802 22d ago

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Rv0t_S7bl0I&pp=ygUJcWIgc2Nob29s

Interesting breakdown of a similar play by the Colts defended differently by the Texans.

At 27:12

Context

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!

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