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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1658 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 23, 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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Vaccines aren't my pet issue. I just have to make a decision soon on Hep B.

And, yes, I think it's important not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Vegetarianism is fine even though Hitler advocated it, etc... I find myself having to take an unpopular stance here mostly for rhetorical reasons. And it seems to have gotten one person in particular very fired up. But, unquestionably vaccines are good on net, even the Covid vaccine (for people at highest risk). But every vaccine is not for everybody.

Hep B can be given at any point, so you don't need to make a decision 'soon'. You can refuse at birth and get it later.

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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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