site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   809 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for April 25, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Berserk (1997), rating pending. A delightfully old-school anime I had never gotten around to watching. The opening theme is probably the most discordant I've ever heard: what kind of song do you pick for your grimdark fantasy anime with gallons of blood and a protagonist that is named after the lower digestive tract? Yep, some upbeat Japanese pop punk must be perfect.

I can't rate it because I abandoned it after three episodes, again. Maybe he gets better, but Guts is the kind of character that inspires rants about toxic masculinity.

Berserk 1997 is more or less the only Berserk adaptation worth watching. I'm trying to remember how much we know about Guts 3 episodes in, and if they had the flashback episode to his childhood yet. He goes through quite a journey over the course of this series, and the manga is one of the few I bother to keep up with for over 20 years now. Other manga series either concluding, or going too far up their own anime asshole to be entertaining anymore. Berserk I can sit down with like an old friend like no time has passed and reread. All that said, if you are the sort of person who views the tropes Guts plays to as "Toxic", so much so that you quit the show, you don't deserve to bask in it's greatness.

I didn't say I was that kind of person, but so far Guts has shown the following range of emotions: anger, sullenness, rage and steadfastly refused to talk to anyone.

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