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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   4752 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 23, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Why have mosquitos that target humans not evolved to be quiet? I will never donate blood to humans, those are overwhelmingly likely to be my political enemies, but I wouldn't mind donating to animals if the disruptions to my sleep didn't fill me with murderous rage.

Huh?

Are you saying an overwhelming majority of humans are your political enemies? Or that your political enemies have a inordinate disposition to needing blood transfusions? This is a bewildering comment.

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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."

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