site banner
naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3303 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 3, 2023

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.

5
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I would feel violated if I learned that my opposite-sex friend was imagining what I would be like to have sex with.

It's statements like this one that make me think men and women live on different planets. Is it not fair to say that, if you're a good looking woman, almost all of the men you meet will, at some point, imagine having sex with you? Why do women not know this?

It sometimes surprises me what women don't know about men. On the other hand, every once in a while a woman will shock me by telling me about how often they experience sexual harassment or get marriage proposals, and then I realize I am also very ignorant of what it is like to be a woman.

I don't like to be around weapons of any sort (guns, bows, swords; only counting things made as weapons, not e.g. cleavers)

This doesn't surprise me now, but I was very confused as a teenager when I showed a girl I liked a nail gun my friend made that I thought was really cool and she had a negative reaction.

It does seem the case -- I'm left wondering what women think about when they are jerking off? I can count the women I've known who wouldn't be freaked out if you told them you fantasized about them on one hand -- I never thought to ask them what they fantasized about at the time, and it would be kind of weird to ask them now. So IDK -- is it just a massive blind spot?

The recurring themes seem to be about being desirable and being desired (in the way that they desire best). The countervailing horror, beyond being undesirable, is that they're being desired in all the ways they desire least.

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