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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3929 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 4, 2023

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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Depends what you are optimizing for.

If you are optimizing for a situation where the lives of the invaded are the least worse off, then a literal military invasion is obviously worse.

If in your value system, the terminal value is the preservation of your culture ethnic group, then at least some of them remaining even if their lives now suck are better off than them not existing at all in any meaningful sense over a much longer timeframe, even if their lives sucked less summed up.

I don't agree with the second value system. I think it's stupid in more ways than one, and its followers are intellectually dishonest when they handwave at "culture" and "your children" and what not. I would like them more if they just said "we want to remain white, and so what?", without all the rationalization.

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.


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