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by PontifexMinimus 1756 days ago
> The west, capitalism and meritocracy are not beyond criticism.

This is a really good example of motte-and-bailey argumentation.

The motte (minimalist position that is uncontroversial and easy to defend) is that the west, capitalism and meritocracy are not beyond criticism. 99.9% of people beleive this.

The bailey (much more controversial position, that is hard to defend but stakes out more territory), is something like this: the west, capitalism and meritocracy are evil and must be destroyed.