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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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PaperclipPerfector 4d ago (text post) 1699 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 10, 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.

Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

orthoxerox If you can read this, you're using a custom theme 3d ago

Why should there be any memes referencing these movies? First of all, they are old. Yes, they are old movies if you're a meme-making Zoomer. Secondly, "the Nazis won", how do you make a meme about "Nazis winning" with a WWII movie? If Trump had lost, you could at least imagine a Downfall meme with "Harris has won in Wisconsin and Michigan and is gaining in Georgia" - "it's okay, Pennsylvania should vote for me and Vance" - "mein Fuehrer, Harris got 51% in Pennsylvania, the Vance counteroffensive didn't succeed"

Context

Capital_Room rather dementor-like orthoxerox 3d ago

Why should there be any memes referencing these movies?

Because Valkyrie is about an attempt to assassinate Hitler, and Inglorious Basterds ends up being alternate history with a successful assassination of Hitler and Goebbels.

First of all, they are old.

Didn't stop this Inglorious Basterds meme from being posted on /r/moviescirclejerk just two years ago. It's text reads: "Plot holes: in Inglorious Basterds (2009), the antifascists kill and scalp Nazis instead of voting blue."

Well, "voting blue" clearly didn't work to stop Nazi II: Electric Boogaloo. And like so many people on Twitter and Tumblr are saying, we've got about 90 days left to somehow save Our Democracy and the lives of millions of Women, Latinx, LGBTQ+…

If failing to kill Hitler gets you into the history books and played by Tom Cruise in the movie about you, then imagine your legacy for taking out Hitler 2.0: Orange Edition?

Context

JarJarJedi orthoxerox 3d ago

The best Downfall one I've seen recently is "Hitler reviews footage of supposedly Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden where they wave Israel flags". It didn't even require the second part.

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!

Rules

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