site banner
Sir_Pings_a_Lot  1yr ago (text post)   Edited 1yr ago   3744 thread views

Am I an acceptable poster for theMotte.org?

Hi, I'm a long time reader of Slate Star Codex and I used to post on the Reddit forum until I got banned. There are a few reasons that I believe I got banned.

  1. Uncharitably claiming that Leftist censorship was a threat to the rationalist community

  2. Advocating for violence

  3. Not being kind

I understand why all of these things could have been a problem on the Reddit community, but I would like to know if they're still going to be a problem here, since I don't want to invest a lot of time creating a profile and having good-faith discussions with people if I'm only going to be banned again. Here are the reasons that I think these three issues shouldn't be a problem anymore.

  1. I was right, and everybody who disagreed with me was wrong. The fact that the community had to move here proves it. I'm not expecting an apology but I think that time has proven me correct on that score.

  2. Violence is a completely justifiable response to tyranny. While calls to violence may be against Reddit rules (and the community was right to ban me from Reddit because my rhetoric could have caused problems for the mods) there are no such rules here. In fact, rdrama (which helped set up this offsite community, and whom you should all be grateful to) actively encourages calls to violence. If a rational and logical case can be made for violence then I think there is no good reason not to hear that case out. If you're forced to censor people you disagree with because you're unable to make a stronger case for pacifism over violence in the open marketplace of ideas, then you should question whether your pacifism is actually a worthwhile philosophy.

  3. Kindness and truth are different terminal values. If you optimize for kindness then it is self-evident that you will have to sacrifice truth at some point. Obviously the Reddit community has chosen kindness as its terminal value, but I'm hoping that this offsite community is enlightened enough to choose truth.

I'm linking to a few articles from my Substack here so you have a few examples of my style of writing and can make a better judgement about whether I would be a good fit for the offsite community. I'm also on rdrama where my username is sirpingsalot. If you think I'm not a good fit for the offsite either, then no hard feelings - I'm happy to take my ideas to more sympathetic communities instead. I just don't want to put in the effort of investing time and energy here if I'm only going to get banned again for the same reasons.

-23
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

The main issue with any argument about the perceived legitimacy of violence is that it will cause whatever site you’re on to eventually shut down.

No it won't. There's plenty of calls on right-leaning websites to do it, and nobody shuts them down. If calls to violence on the internet were such a big deal, then January 6th couldn't have happened.

In the past, when we lived in a society dominated by the Left, then calls to violence were indeed forbidden (at least, calls to violence against the Left - it was perfectly acceptable to threaten and smear the Right for some reason). But we live in a new world order where the old rules no longer apply, and the taboo against violence has eroded rapidly. My only question is whether the Motte is playing by the rules of the old paradigm, or the new paradigm? I mean obviously I don't plan to call for violence here since rationalists aren't exactly gun-toting revolutionaries (so using this place as a recruitment ground would be pointless even if I was inclined to do so), but if I feel that violence is the correct and logical solution to a societal problem then I think I should be allowed to discuss the reasons why. If the only tools and methodologies you consider "legitimate" are nonviolent ones, then you're limiting your toolbox substantially (and also being a bit hypocritical).

When were their calls to violence on Jan 6 on the internet? Some private Dms perhaps but it’s not like the proud boys were openly calling for violence on social media.

but if I feel that violence is the correct and logical solution to a societal problem then I think I should be allowed to discuss the reasons why.

You can do that. There are several regular posters who discuss why they think violence is a correct and logical solution.

What you can't do is say "Let me explain why I think we should do violence to this specific group of people," let alone "this specific person."

If you want to talk in generalities about how "the elites" need culling and it's time to water the tree of liberty with blood again, well, as long as you don't cross over into outright fedposting, sure, indulge yourself.

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