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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   2853 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 9, 2025

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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Blago took the fall for Obama

Took the fall for Obama for what? He was accused in bribery, do you imply it was Obama that took the actual bribes? If so, why then wouldn't Trump explore this direction more? I heard literally nothing about it.

I think it's very likely the chicago political machine that got Obama elected was shopping the seat around, and they needed to pin the whole thing on a guy with the least connection possible to him.

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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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