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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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Tribal and Clannish
User ID: 2958
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The problem Anti-Zionists have with Israel isn't really that it's an ethnostate. It's that it's a settler-colonial project that came into existence through the displacement of the native population. Just like the US, Australia, and South Africa.
We will make media about how Palestinian men and jewish women are romantically made for one another.
Why can't right-wingers talk about anything without bringing their anxieties about black dick into it?
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The problem Anti-Zionists have with Israel isn't really that it's an ethnostate. It's that it's a settler-colonial project that came into existence through the displacement of the native population. Just like the US, Australia, and South Africa.
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