site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   4360 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 27, 2022

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.

5
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I'd guess it's the same reason we don't use corporal punishment (painful just to watch, incredibly painful to endure, but low-time-preference offenders get maximally deterred by it and potentially-rehabilitated offenders can still go back to family and work the next day) but we do use long prison terms (no instant of which is super awful, except maybe the one where the offender is fired and the one where their SO leaves them, but which adds up to more suffering over years).

At least subconsciously, we want to be cruel but we don't want to feel like we're cruel, so the cruelty has to be slow and calm and quiet.

And as for why the US in particular? My guess here is that it's because we're aware that when we were routinely cruel, we were just too awful at it. Corporal punishment reminds us of Puritan pillories for skipping church in the best case, or of whipped slaves in the worst. Hanging reminds us of lynch mobs. The one good thing you can say for long prison terms (including our ever-longer waits on Death Row) is that they provide lots of time to rectify an unjust miscarriage of justice. (not that we will, in general, but at least the possibility remains open)

Does anyone think that Japanese or Singaporean long drop hanging is any crueler than lethal injection? I mean, sure, public hanging from a construction crane, Iran-style, is outside the Overton window due to perceived cruelty. But that’s not what’s being discussed. There’s some movement in the us away from lethal injection because, as noted, it doesn’t work very well, but usually to firing squad or inert gas asphyxiation.

Honestly kinda seems like a fixation with being modern and technocratic more than anything else.

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