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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   29311 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 4, 2024

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Me personally?

Murder, sex crimes against children, treason.

Many of the capital crimes in the Old Testament wouldn't move me today to advocate for stoning, burning or slaying.

Those seem unrelated to the He Gets Me ads

Certainly.

He washed feet. As portrayed in the ad could lead an observer to believe he washed alot of feet, or that it was common in his ministry or he washed random sinners feet.

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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!

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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."

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