site banner
PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2561 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 24, 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.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Conspiratorial types often talk about whistleblowers dying in suspicious circumstances strongly suggestive of foul play, but which were officially ruled as suicides. I seem to recall that many such accusations have been levelled against the Clintons. Are there any examples of this which strike you as particularly suspicious? (Research for NaNoWriMo.)

Not quite a suicide and more "nothing to see here, just bad luck," but the crash of the airplane carrying Lin Biao.

The official story: Lin Biao was planning a coup against Mao, but once he realized it was going to fail, he hopped on a plane with his family to flee to the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, he forgot to put any fuel in it, so it ran out of fuel early on and crashed in Mongolia.

There are some conspiracy theorists who find this suspicious.

After the assasination of Franz Ferdinand, but before the outbreak of war, the Russian ambassador to Serbia, Nicholas Hartwig, died suddenly while visiting the Austro-Hungarian embassy in Belgrade. The official explaination was that he died of a heart attack.

Well, if there’s one thing that would elevate your risk, it’s a front-row seat to world war.

-Ron Brown the Secretary of Commerce who was killed in a plane crash in Croatia. The medical examiner found a execution-style bullet hole in his head that was explained away as a flying rivet.

-Mark Middleton, who hung himself from a tree, and then after that shot himself with a shotgun.

The real suspicious thing is just the sheer volume. How many politicians have a double digit number of associates die violently or commit suicide?

-Ron Brown the Secretary of Commerce who was killed in a plane crash in Croatia. The medical examiner found a execution-style bullet hole in his head that was explained away as a flying rivet.

"Why would you shoot a man before throwing him out of an airplane?".

It makes no sense.

They expected one of us in the wreckage, brother.

I think Middleton is the exact guy I was thinking of when I posted this question.

Wait until you hear about this Epstein guy…

Everyone knows about Epstein, I'm interested in the people who aren't famous and whose deaths were page 4 stories.

Maybe Danny Casolaro? I don't have an opinion on his case but it's kind of the 'classic' of this genre imo

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


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats