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PaperclipPerfector  10d ago (text post)   2324 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 23, 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 often have small thoughts I'd like to use as discussion prompts on the Motte, but that aren't explicit questions (for the SSQS thread like this one here) or really suitable for top-level culture war posts. Could I attempt to open something like a "Small observation Saturday" thread, or is that just directionless low-effort posting unsuitable for the Motte?

If they're light and fun, that's what Fridays are for.

If they're personal, they probably fit into the Wellness Wednesday thread broadly construed.

If they're neither fun nor personal, then such a thread would probably devolve into low-effort driveby rageposting of "thing I saw on the internet pissed me off" and "fuck my stupid outgroup" level stuff that would rapidly enshittify the forum.

Can we try some out right here?

I read my aunt's old poetry album from the 60s. Rural Germany, mind you. The poetry was entirely of the wisdom kind; dozens of people all writing down exhortations along the lines of

  • Be pious and pray fervently.
  • You live for others, not for yourself.
  • Work hard to give God something to work with on your behalf.
  • When life sucks, suck it up.
  • Be glad at all times, even when life is hard.
  • Remember the people around you, and the good times you shared.
  • Honor your parents, they won't be around forever.
  • Speak softly or don't speak at all.
  • Do somethign with your life that you are good at.

It struck me as very different from what one would hear as poetic advice nowadays. Not exactly surprising insights, I suppose.

Work hard to give God something to work with on your behalf.

Oh I like this one.

One of them, which most closely fit this pattern, used the imagery of cutting beams and hewing rocks so that God may build a house for you.

Yes, that's good too. Thanks.

Not long ago, I was struck for similar reasons when reading a Joyce Kilmer poem: To a Young Poet Who Killed Himself. I can’t imagine coming across anything similar from a modern-day poet.

Plus, Kilmer is most famous for his poem on trees (beloved by hippies everywhere), so I tend to think of him as a soft-hearted liberal. In reality, he was a devout Catholic, and he shared his church’s—and his society’s—negative views on suicide.

I would expect the modern-day equivalent to have more pop-psych, like "What doesn't kill you still gives you PTSD". Or maybe eco-friendly, like "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints".

See, that's defeatism, not advice. I'm not sure there is a modern-day equivalent, maybe Jordan Peterson?

If there's a discussion prompt, there must be a question in there, right? Seems like a good fit for SSQS to me.

Not really. Perhaps I misdescribed it. It's just small things I come across that are interesting to me and might be interesting to some mottizens. It's an offer of vaguely cruious information; not a prompt.

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