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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   5645 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 12, 2023

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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Do you think that immigration from more intelligent and educated people would be beneficial in the fight against wokeism? I fear that education in this country is indoctrination, so it just makes the problem worse.

Also, what's PMC?

Usually "Professional-Managerial Class."

Depending on who's asking, it could mean the educated, the non-manual laborers, or just the vague upper-middle class. I'm of the opinion that it is a kludge to adapt Marxism to service economies, which allow social climbing without getting ahold of capital. But the important bit is that it's a convenient outgroup.

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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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