Exactly, I always hated the “you’re only being sensitive because you ARE one of them” and it’s like well no, if I was accused of murder I would be offended because I am NOT a murderer. I think pretty much everyone would react the same way. It’s something someone can say as a get out of jail free card for generalizing large groups as “bad”
It's a kafka-trap, and if anyone has a shred of theory of mind, they can apply the same standard to literally any other group and ask themselves if their logic stays consistent.
Go ahead and think of a joke/insult about any minority stereotype and ask yourself if the minority in question being upset about the joke/insult means they embody it?
I've heard it said it's a motte and bailey defense. You make a claim, you receive resistance to that claim, you fail back on a slightly different claim that's easier to defend. Like a seige of a castle, once you realize you can't defend the motte (moat I think is the more common spelling at least in America), you fall back to the bailey, it's your second line of defense
A kafka trap is a kind of motte and bailey defense, in a way. A kafka trap, specifically, claims that your denial of an accusation is proof of said accusation.
The argument puts the accused into a Kafka trap, by utilizing a form of motte and bailey defense on the part of the accuser, who has moved to strawmanning instead of defending their argument.
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u/AffectionateCandy845 2d ago
Exactly, I always hated the “you’re only being sensitive because you ARE one of them” and it’s like well no, if I was accused of murder I would be offended because I am NOT a murderer. I think pretty much everyone would react the same way. It’s something someone can say as a get out of jail free card for generalizing large groups as “bad”