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PaperclipPerfector  15d ago (text post)   2958 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 16, 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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If you take conspiracy theories seriously, there is nothing "enjoyable" there. Who is supposed to enjoy that they (whoever "they" are) are deceiving the mankind for decades and centuries with no end in sight for nefarious gains and getting away with it?

World where conspiracy theorists are right is nightmare fuel.

(Exceptions might be various "forbidden technology" conspiracies, claiming that free energy is kept secret by Big Oil and miracle cures for all diseases are suppressed by Big Pharma. This universe, if real, would be awesome - just break into these secret vaults and Star Trek utopia is here.)

This explains the temporary success of Qanon - this was rare conspiracy that claimed that good guys are out there fighting the good fight.

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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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