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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2253 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

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.

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I am assuming you are asking why he did the big rant post a few days ago. The answer is "that's normal for him". Kulak has always been posting about how the solution to our problems is murder. It's like, his whole thing. He just stopped fedposting around here because he found a bunch of people who wanted to see him fedpost on Substack. I don't think he's particularly smart (except insofar as it takes some amount of brains to cultivate a blog), and I definitely don't think he's a good writer. He's all heat, no light.

Even criminals need a competent defense. I mean, you and I might not agree that murdering everyone who disagrees is an optimal strategy (or at least not a Nash equilibrium) but is it so bad for someone to take the other side and at least have the discussion?

Bad as in "it should be disallowed by the rules"? No, not really. But it's bad in the sense that it's not interesting or adding anything of value to the forum.

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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."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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