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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. Support New Discourses: patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: https://newdiscourses.com Follow: facebook.com/newdiscourses twitter.com/NewDiscourses instagram.com/newdiscourses linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses minds.com/newdiscourses reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…es/id1499880546 play.google.com/music/m/Ipc3rvw36…?t=New_Discourses open.spotify.com/show/0HfzDaXI5L4LnJQStFWgZp stitcher.com/podcast/new-discourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

On this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, your host James Lindsay explores the concept of political regimes through American history. From Washington, to Lincoln, to Roosevelt, right up through W and Obama, the “US of A” has seen a broad spectrum of political ideals displayed under the common framework known as “Modernity.” But where are we now? Considering the rise of Trump, the media's explicit bias, and the prevalence of critical social justice theory throughout culture, Lindsay suggests that America may have moved into a new Postmodern Regime: a regime that is making us wonder how we can tell what's true anymore. Support New Discourses: patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: https://newdiscourses.com Follow: facebook.com/newdiscourses twitter.com/NewDiscourses instagram.com/newdiscourses linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses minds.com/newdiscourses reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…es/id1499880546 play.google.com/music/m/Ipc3rvw36…?t=New_Discourses open.spotify.com/show/0HfzDaXI5L4LnJQStFWgZp stitcher.com/podcast/new-discourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

Critical Social Justice operates like a virus. I’ve said it about them; they say it about themselves; we’re all in agreement. It infects liberal institutions and liberal-minded people (philosophically speaking, whether on the left, right, or center), perverts “critical” as in “critical thinking” into “critical” as in “critical theory,” which means something completely different. It then turns those institutions and individuals into woke cells that produce more Critical Social Justice and spread it to others, hollowing out the institutions and organizations it infects as it goes. Support New Discourses: patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: newdiscourses.com Follow: facebook.com/newdiscourses twitter.com/NewDiscourses instagram.com/newdiscourses linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses minds.com/newdiscourses reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…es/id1499880546 play.google.com/music/m/Ipc3rvw36…?t=New_Discourses open.spotify.com/show/0HfzDaXI5L4LnJQStFWgZp stitcher.com/podcast/new-discourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

James lindsay takes a few minutes to dig deeply into the mindset of Critical Social Justice to explain exactly why its proponents are so reluctant to be seen applying their work in administrative and educational spheres. Support New Discourses: patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: https://newdiscourses.com Follow: facebook.com/newdiscourses twitter.com/NewDiscourses instagram.com/newdiscourses linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses minds.com/newdiscourses reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-…es/id1499880546 play.google.com/music/m/Ipc3rvw36…?t=New_Discourses open.spotify.com/show/0HfzDaXI5L4LnJQStFWgZp stitcher.com/podcast/new-discourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

“Life will never be the same again.” We hear this over and over again with regard to the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on us, even though we’re only weeks into the pandemic. Is that true, though? Won’t most of us “regress to the mean,” as it’s sometimes phrased, as we move forward and get this crisis in our rearview mirror? I think we will, more or less, and I think we need to remember that. Support New Discourses: https://patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: https://newdiscourses.com Follow: https://facebook.com/newdiscourses https://twitter.com/NewDiscourses https://instagram.com/newdiscourses https://linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses https://minds.com/newdiscourses https://reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/newdiscourses https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-discourses/id1499880546 https://play.google.com/music/m/Ipc3rvw364nzwvdjjpd6gg3cmuy?t=New_Discourses https://open.spotify.com/show/0HfzDaXI5L4LnJQStFWgZp https://stitcher.com/podcast/new-discourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

New Discourses convened in October of 2019 in the National Liberal Club of London for a day-long conference titled Speaking Truth to Social Justice. There, Portland State University philosophy professor Peter Boghossian gave a rousing talk about the need to “speak truth in the face of danger,” parrhesia, as the Ancient Greeks called it, as this applies to Critical Social Justice. Follow Peter Boghossian: https://twitter.com/peterboghossian Support New Discourses: https://patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: https://newdiscourses.com Follow: https://facebook.com/newdiscourses https://twitter.com/NewDiscourses https://instagram.com/newdiscourses https://linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses https://minds.com/newdiscourses https://reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

Dr. James Lindsay in his talk, “The Truth About Critical Methods,” makes very clear that Critical Social Justice is not the same thing as social justice. He argues that the branding of social justice, which is how Critical Social Justice promotes itself, misleads people about the nature of that movement. Support New Discourses: https://patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: https://newdiscourses.com Follow: https://facebook.com/newdiscourses https://twitter.com/NewDiscourses https://instagram.com/newdiscourses https://linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses https://minds.com/newdiscourses https://reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

In February, I discovered an article on Twitter about “decolonizing graphic design,” published in the summer of last year. These sorts of articles are incredibly useful for showing exactly what’s going on in the Critical Social Justice mindset once you know how to read them, and this one doesn’t disappoint. After quickly threading about the article on Twitter to show it and explain it to my followers, I grabbed my microphone for an impromptu discussion of what I read. Support New Discourses: https://patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: https://newdiscourses.com Follow: https://facebook.com/newdiscourses https://twitter.com/NewDiscourses https://instagram.com/newdiscourses https://linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses https://minds.com/newdiscourses https://reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

In October of 2019, a small group of genuinely liberal-minded people gathered together for a day of speeches, panels, and community in the Gladstone Library in the National Liberal Club of London. The conference had a title that succinctly described its purpose: Speaking Truth to Social Justice. Over the course of the day, even as the Extinction Rebellion protest raged outside just a block away, we gave seven talks and held two panel discussions, all with the intention of recovering and restating genuine liberalism in this unique era of history, where it faces unique threats. Last to speak in the evening was our good friend Andrew Doyle, a comedian and satirist most famous for his excellent work with the satirical faux-Woke Twitter account Titania McGrath. In his brilliant and hilarious talk, Doyle provides a worthy and robust defense of both free speech and free thought. He does so by explaining the long history of satire and satirical hoaxes and their applications against unjust power. These, he reminds us, are necessary anywhere power over-asserts itself, especially in censorship, not just to deflate scolds we tend to associate with the right but also those who have arisen recently on the left, before ending with a twist: revealing that he, too, (maybe…, and that’s beside his point) has contributed to this sometimes-necessary tradition. Support New Discourses: https://patreon.com/newdiscourses Website: https://newdiscourses.com Follow: https://facebook.com/newdiscourses https://twitter.com/NewDiscourses https://instagram.com/newdiscourses https://linkedin.com/company/newdiscourses https://minds.com/newdiscourses https://reddit.com/r/NewDiscourses © 2020 New Discourses. All rights reserved.

In a thought-provoking discussion, philosopher Peter Boghossian tackles the challenges of expressing personal beliefs in today's judgmental society. He shares his own hesitations about speaking up, questioning whether the fear of being labeled a bad person holds us back. The duo emphasizes the courage needed to advocate for one’s convictions, particularly in conflict-prone environments like the workplace. They also highlight the importance of balancing personal beliefs with active listening, advocating for open dialogue as a pathway to understanding and authenticity.