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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   36584 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 24, 2022

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The motte isn’t a place for regular conservatives, it’s a place for conservatives who are almost dysfunctionally highly cerebral

(Not an insult, that’s what makes it interesting to me)

it’s a place for conservatives who are almost dysfunctionally highly cerebral

I suspect that the number of sincere conservatives on the motte could be counted on a single hand. The utilitarians, libertarians, accelerationists, and neo reactionaries are enemies of tradition just as much as the woke are.

In other news, “communalist libertarian market socialist” on Reddit is convinced that the “communalist libertarian market syndicalists” are actually the real fascists.

More accurately it doesn't really matter what particular brand of fully automated luxury gay space communism you espouse, you're still a fucking commie.

I mean, if that really is what most of the userbase here is, then, to ask the rhetorical question: why are we here and not still on Reddit?

Exactly

You seem to be under the impression there is a meaningful difference communalist libertarian market syndicalists and communalist libertarian market socialists in the eyes of someone who is not a communalist not a libertarian nor particularly fond of markets.

The narcissism of small differences is still very much narcissism.

I was making a funny analogy for the differences you draw between yourself and other people here.

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.

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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."

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