New Discourses New Discourses
  • Home
  • ND Podcast
  • ND Bullets
  • OnlySubs Podcast
  • SJ Encyclopedia
  • Grievance Studies
  • Consulting
  • Books
  • Merch
0
0
175K
0
0

Support This Work

Subscribe

About

Contact

Events

Articles

Videos

Audio

FAQ

Tags
academia america antiwoke audio bullets communism Critical Pedagogy Critical Race Theory critical social justice Critical Theory education encyclopedia glossary helen pluckrose herbert marcuse history Identity Politics Ideology James Lindsay karl marx leftism marxism members only ND Bullets nd podcast neo-marxism new discourses onlysubs philosophy podcast politics postmodernism Queer Theory race racism schools social justice social justice dictionary terms tftw translations from the wokish woke woke marxism wokeness wokish
  • About
  • Articles
  • Videos
  • Audio
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Speaker Requests
  • Support This Work
  • FAQ
Subscribe
New Discourses New Discourses

Pursuing the light of objective truth in subjective darkness.

New Discourses New Discourses
  • Home
  • ND Podcast
  • ND Bullets
  • OnlySubs Podcast
  • SJ Encyclopedia
  • Grievance Studies
  • Consulting
  • Books
  • Merch
  • Audio

Stealing the Motte: Critical Social Justice and the Principle of Charity

  • May 7, 2020
  • New Discourses
Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Share 0

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Episode 6

There is a rhetorical strategy called the “motte and bailey” that is getting increasingly famous lately. This is because it is one of the central tools of the Critical Social Justice movement. In that strategy, named after a kind of castle, a highly defensible “motte” position, like “we just want to treat people more fairly,” is maintained while also pushing a more radical “bailey” position, like “we need to radically remake our school systems so that no one can fail.” Activists advance the bailey and, when pressed on it, retreat to the motte until scrutiny and pressure go away, at which point they return to the bailey.

In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, your host James Lindsay explores the principle of charity in debate and dialogue in the context of the motte-and-bailey rhetorical strategy. His goal is to explain how the game of critical theories is not the same game the rest of us play in broadly liberal societies. In fact, the critical game seeks to disrupt and dismantle the liberal game and replace it with its own. Exploiting the principle of charity is one of the most common ways it can achieve this.

In this long-form, flowing discussion of the phenomenon, Lindsay breaks down several recent examples of Critical Social Justice activists playing a completely different game than our own. He then illustrates how the principle of charity is exploited by Critical Social Justice advocates, who get us to build their castle for them and then use it to advance their radical, disruptive agendas. He explains that what’s needed in answer to this insidious critical game is to use the principle of charity to steal their motte and then trenchant, informed criticism to bomb their bailey every time.


Subscribe to this podcast on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, or by RSS.

Previous episodes of this podcast are available here.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Share 0
New Discourses

Administrator for NewDiscourses.com

Related Topics
  • bailey
  • charity
  • critical social justice
  • Critical Theory
  • James Lindsay
  • motte
  • nd podcast
  • new discourses
  • podcast
  • rhetoric
Previous Article
  • Audio

How Theory Got Cynical and Why That Sucks for Everyone

  • May 5, 2020
  • New Discourses
View Post
Next Article
Alex Makes The Grade
  • Articles

Alex Makes The Grade

  • May 9, 2020
  • Christopher Lord
View Post
You May Also Like
Pendulum
View Post
  • Audio

What Freedom of Speech Is and Isn’t

  • New Discourses
  • September 26, 2025
View Post
  • Audio

For Charlie Kirk

  • New Discourses
  • September 24, 2025
Pendulum
View Post
  • Audio

Is Woke Real, or Is It a Psyop?

  • New Discourses
  • September 22, 2025
View Post
  • Audio

The Nazi Experiment, Vol. 6: Carl Schmitt and the Total State

  • New Discourses
  • September 19, 2025
Pendulum
View Post
  • Audio

The Seven Criteria of Cancel Culture

  • New Discourses
  • September 17, 2025
Image source, changes made: https://www.flickr.com/photos/191752419@N08/52456025310/
View Post
  • Audio

The Russian National Socialism of Aleksandr Dugin

  • New Discourses
  • September 15, 2025
Pendulum
View Post
  • Audio

The American Idea

  • New Discourses
  • September 12, 2025
View Post
  • Audio

The Nazi Experiment, Vol. 5: Forty Points for the Nazi Party

  • New Discourses
  • September 5, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Support This Work

Follow Us



Recent Posts
  • What Freedom of Speech Is and Isn’t
  • For Charlie Kirk
  • Is Woke Real, or Is It a Psyop?
  • The Nazi Experiment, Vol. 6: Carl Schmitt and the Total State
  • The Seven Criteria of Cancel Culture

Recent Comments
  • Andrew on What Freedom of Speech Is and Isn’t
  • Matt King on What Freedom of Speech Is and Isn’t
  • Josh on The Russian National Socialism of Aleksandr Dugin
  • Josh on Is Woke Real, or Is It a Psyop?
  • Larry Cox on Is Woke Real, or Is It a Psyop?

Tags
academia america antiwoke audio bullets communism Critical Pedagogy Critical Race Theory critical social justice Critical Theory education encyclopedia glossary helen pluckrose herbert marcuse history Identity Politics Ideology James Lindsay karl marx leftism marxism members only ND Bullets nd podcast neo-marxism new discourses onlysubs philosophy podcast politics postmodernism Queer Theory race racism schools social justice social justice dictionary terms tftw translations from the wokish woke woke marxism wokeness wokish
ND Banner Image for sidebar copy
ND Banner Image for sidebar copy
ND Banner Image for sidebar copy
book ad v 2
3x2-Promo-copy
Social
Twitter 0
Instagram 0
YouTube 175K
Facebook 0
SoundCloud 0
Subscribe
New Discourses
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact
© 2025 New Discourses. All Rights Reserved.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.