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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2355 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 15, 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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What drones? Can you be more specific in top-level post? At least link some useful summary?

What's the deal with the drones?

Is about war in Ukraine or what?

Are there even any drones?

Probably no then. Unless it is some really big-brain take.

https://www.fox29.com/news/drone-mothership-claim-new-info-about-irans-drone-activity

Based on this we can say that New Jersey Congressman lied (or repeated lies/confused babbling) about supposed Iranian droneship of the coast of USA.

Silly, but still below old classics like risk of island tipping over.

Also, he may have seen some drones. Or planes. Or stars. Or street lamps. Or something else.

Why this would be of interest to anyone?

UFO people claims at least have some (usually lame, but still) backstory with all this alien stuff.

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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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