Submission statement: this post challenges perceptions of American foreign policy in relation to Israel, from both the political left and the political right.
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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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Notes -
Submission statement: this post challenges perceptions of American foreign policy in relation to Israel, from both the political left and the political right.
Pretty quintessentially CW post--feel free to post about it in the CW thread.
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