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naraburns  nihil supernum  11mo ago (text post)   Edited 11mo ago   4450 thread views

Quality Contributions Report for November 2023

This is the Quality Contributions Roundup. It showcases interesting and well-written comments and posts from the period covered. If you want to get an idea of what this community is about or how we want you to participate, look no further (except the rules maybe--those might be important too).

As a reminder, you can nominate Quality Contributions by hitting the report button and selecting the "Actually A Quality Contribution!" option. Additionally, links to all of the roundups can be found in the wiki of /r/theThread which can be found here. For a list of other great community content, see here.

These are mostly chronologically ordered, but I have in some cases tried to cluster comments by topic so if there is something you are looking for (or trying to avoid), this might be helpful.

Quality Contributions to the Main Motte

@ymeskhout:

@Borzivoj:

@FCfromSSC:

@Dean:

Contributions for the week of October 30, 2023

@Southkraut:

@vorpa-glavo:

@cjet79:

@Folamh3:

@ControlsFreak:

@dovetailing:

@AshLael:

Contributions for the week of November 6, 2023

@WhiningCoil:

@raggedy_anthem:

@Folamh3:

Contributions for the week of November 13, 2023

@Dean:

@WhiningCoil:

@VoxelVexillologist:

@OliveTapenade:

Contributions for the week of November 20, 2023

@ArjinFerman:

@gattsuru:

@Cirrus:

@TheBookOfAllan:

@screye:

@Folamh3:

@felis-parenthesis:

Contributions for the week of November 27, 2023

@HelmedHorror:

@OliveTapenade:

@IGI-111:

@FCfromSSC:

@Dean:

@FiveHourMarathon:

@hydroacetylene:

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@FCfromSSC origin story is iconic. I relate to the terror and depression of cancellation, but I could never put it down like you did. I'd say "go on The Bailey" but that'd be missing the point.

Our mods are wise and generous \o/ Thank you for the round-up Nara!

I keep thinking about our various discussions of identity, and I keep coming back to how self-focused the modern western notion of identity is. In the past, almost all of a human’s identity was proscribed for him often before birth, though sometimes afterwards. You were given your identity, born into a certain social class, a certain culture, and within a family, clan and tribe. You practiced whatever religion your tribe did. And you were treated as a member of your natal gender as well. The intersection of all of those identities you were handed at birth determined most of your behavior. And the idea that you might just choose something else was unusual. A woman in 1800 couldn’t just reject her womanhood or do things associated with men. You couldn’t just decide you want to be a Buddhist or Muslim in Catholic Poland simply wasn’t an option. A peasant could not simply decide he wanted to be a noble and a noble couldn’t chuck aside his title and be a farmer.

Get in.

Is this a correction? Did I misquote you? My best guess is that you are saying it should be

the journalist has remarkably little faith in their own opinions to get in the marketplace of ideas

but that's not what your comment actually says, and I don't see any other obvious candidates for correction.

Sorry for the confusion, it's just an expression when you're really happy with the outcome of a result, like when a footballer scores a goal. "Get in!"

Like exclaiming "Let's Go!" when winning even though you're not going anywhere.

Precisely.

Oh! Well, thank you for teaching me something new today! I find regional idioms endlessly fascinating.

Hey don't call him that. Sheesh, you big city people.

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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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.

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