The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

The Motte And Bailey Fallacy (MABF) was coined by Nicholas Shackel in The Vacuity of Postmodernist Methodology, to describe a technique of argument that has been embraced by the left. His original use of it was to describe and discredit the mendacious arguments of the postmodernists, but it describes perfectly what we see today in political and social discourse.

For my purposes the desirable but only lightly defensible territory of the Motte and Bailey castle, that is to say, the Bailey, represents a philosophical doctrine or position with similar properties: desirable to its proponent but only lightly defensible. The Motte is the defensible but undesired position to which one retreats when hard pressed. I think it is evident that Troll's Truisms have the Motte and Bailey property, since the exciting falsehoods constitute the desired but indefensible region within the ditch whilst the trivial truth constitutes the defensible but dank Motte to which one may retreat when pressed.

There are obvious corollaries to the MABF, and an excellent one is the current mania over "inclusion." What's not to like about "inclusion?" Everyone loves it! It sounds wonderful. Make everyone welcome...exclude no one...and the world will be a better place, and everyone will be happy and content and eat skittles and have unicorns grazing in their backyards. That's the "Bailey."

Except...the unspoken (at first) complexity of "inclusion" is that sometimes people don't feel included if those in the group say mean things like, "Based on my religion, I disapprove of homosexual marriage," or, "All Lives Matter," or, "There were significant irregularities in the 2020 election." And the entire concept of inclusion now becomes excluding those whose ideas are uncomfortable for some. That's the "Motte!"

It is a wonderful technique for hiding true intent. Dangle an innocuous and wonderful sounding triviality that hides the true, malign, and much less defensible intent. From gay marriage we are moving inexorably to polyamory, legalizing pedophilia, child mutilation, and perhaps bestiality, using the "Bailey" of gay marriage. Using "voting rights!" we have moved to the "Motte" of multi-week absentee voting that is a recipe for comprehensive voter fraud.

Every time anyone on the left utters anything remotely benign-sounding, look deeper for the "Motte," because it is always there.

posted by CBD at 11:00 AM

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