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
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Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
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If in doubt, please post it!
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Jump in the discussion.
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Notes -
You have HORSES! What were you thinking!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=LyZK8k4gzyg
Those horses were pretty damn useful in the eastern front, where vehicles were constantly getting stuck in the mud and there was a critical shortage of fuel. A towed artillery piece doesn't care whether it's towed by a horse or a truck. That clip is like the perfect example of American military arrogance, thinking that the high-tech, expensive way is the only way and not being able to imagine how people fight with simple weapons.
That arrogance is earned. The only reason we ever draw/lose/leave is because we aren't willing to firebomb whole countries into dust. Even in WW2 we tried for precision bombing while everyone else just let loose if they had the munitions. The critical shortage of fuel was another example of the backwards german "war machine". It isn't that people with sticks can put up a good fight, it is that the people with guns are unwilling to shoot all of them.
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