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.
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This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
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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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Notes -
I was once approached by a really poor looking woman asking for money to buy her kids diapers, or just the diapers directly. I thought to myself, how can this possibly be a trick, what's she gonna do, sell the diapers on the street? And it's not like I had time to sit down and thinks this one through first. So I went with her to buy the diapers. She thanked me profusely, and I felt good about myself, but I'm naturally very curious. So I pretended to walk away until I was confident she wasn't looking anymore. She just went back to the same store and argued with the shopkeeper until they let her give back the diapers for 10 bucks or so. I felt very stupid.
Just because you don't instantly see a way for something to be scam doesn't mean it isn't one. "How can looking at a map be a scam?", well, until you're wallet is stolen. Maybe they talk you into putting your backpack to the side, so that it gets stolen. Maybe they "just don't have the money on me right now, let's go to the bank" and then you get robbed in an alleyway.
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