Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #splitlevelarguments
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1/ I’ve been noticing a ubiquitous technique recently upon which I have seen little commented. “Punchable face”, #killallmen, “Open Borders”, “Tax is Theft”, “Believe Women”, “Free markets”, “Free Speech” and uptalking are examples. I want to explain here what I see linking them.
2/ The technique involves bundling an attacking position and a retreating position where the retreat is low cost and reasonable while the attack is wildly simplistic, irresponsible and generally too expensive to maintain. The attack is frequently literal & the retreat figurative.
3/ As @ezraklein pointed out for the attack position #KillAllMen dripping with sexism & misandry, the retreat position is “it would be nice if the world sucked less for women”. Likewise “Open Borders” can collapse all the way down to “I don’t want to see immigrants scapegoated”. 
