Definitions by Abzugal
Kampfism
A variant of Boghossianism-Lindsayism-Pluckroseism emerging from the "Feminist Mein Kampf" incident, where the core tactic is changing words to subvert meaning—and then using the acceptance of the resulting text as proof that a field is intellectually bankrupt. Kampfism is not limited to any particular field or political position; it can be deployed against anyone, anywhere, by anyone. The technique is simple: take a text, replace key terms with their opposites or with politically charged substitutions, and submit it to journals, blogs, or publications associated with the target group. If accepted, declare victory: the field is exposed, the ideology is hollow, the critics were right. The classic example involved replacing "National-Socialism" with "Israel" and "Jews" with "Hamas" and submitting to Zionist publications. But Kampfism is infinitely adaptable: replace "white supremacy" with "cultural preservation" and submit to conservative magazines; replace "capitalism" with "freedom" and submit to libertarian journals. The point is not to engage with ideas but to demonstrate that with enough word-substitution, any text can be made acceptable to any audience—and that this proves something about the audience, not the text.
Example: "He took a passage from a Marxist tract, replaced 'workers' with 'entrepreneurs' and 'capital' with 'opportunity,' and submitted it to a libertarian magazine. When they accepted it, he declared Kampfism victorious: libertarianism was just Marxism with different words. His critics pointed out that this proved nothing about libertarian ideas, only about editorial sloppiness. But Kampfism had done its work: sowing doubt, provoking outrage, generating content."
Metabiases
Biases about biases—higher-order cognitive distortions that operate on our understanding of bias itself. Metabiases include the bias blind spot (thinking you're less biased than others), the fallacy fallacy (thinking that because an argument contains a fallacy, its conclusion must be false), and objectivity bias (thinking your views are objective while others are biased). Metabiases are what happen when we try to think about thinking and get tangled in our own cognitive limitations. They're the reason bias education often fails: learning about bias can make you more confident in your own immunity, not less. Recognizing metabiases requires meta-cognition about meta-cognition—thinking about thinking about thinking—and humility about ever escaping bias.
Example: "He'd studied bias for years and could spot it in everyone. But when she pointed out his own biases, he dismissed her as biased. Metabiases: his bias about bias made him blind to his own. He thought knowing about bias made him immune; it just gave him new ways to be biased. The meta-level didn't free him; it just made his errors harder to see."
Metabiases by Abzugal March 7, 2026
Miranda Bias
A cognitive and metacognitive bias where everything you say is used against you by your opponent, regardless of what you say, to the point where your only options are silence or withdrawal from the debate. Named after the Miranda warning ("anything you say can be used against you"), this bias describes situations where debate becomes impossible because any statement you make will be twisted, misrepresented, or weaponized. If you provide evidence, it's biased. If you cite sources, they're unreliable. If you make an argument, it's fallacious. Miranda Bias leaves no path to productive engagement; the only winning move is not to play. It's the signature tactic of bad-faith arguers who want not to win but to silence.
Example: "She tried everything—evidence, logic, sources, reasoning. Every response was turned against her: 'That source is biased.' 'That's just your interpretation.' 'You're committing a fallacy.' Miranda Bias meant anything she said would be used to dismiss her. After hours of this, she gave up. He declared victory. The bias had done its work: making debate impossible, making her silence inevitable."
Miranda Bias by Abzugal March 7, 2026
Ivory Fortress
An advanced and evolved form of the Ivory Tower—not just a place of sheltered intellectualism but a fortified stronghold, actively defended against outside influence, critique, or engagement. The Ivory Fortress doesn't just ignore the outside world; it repels it. Its inhabitants don't just fail to communicate; they actively dismiss anyone who tries. The Fortress is protected by jargon, by credentialism, by institutional power, by active hostility to outsiders. It's not just isolated; it's entrenched. The Ivory Fortress is what happens when academic or intellectual communities turn inward so completely that they become self-referential fortresses, impregnable and irrelevant.
Example: "The department had become an ivory fortress: impenetrable jargon, dismissive attitudes, active hostility to anyone outside their narrow specialty. They didn't just ignore the public; they despised it. Their work was brilliant and useless, protected by walls they'd spent decades building. The fortress kept them safe—and irrelevant."
Ivory Fortress by Abzugal March 7, 2026
Rationality Bias
The cognitive bias where one attempts to apply rational, logical analysis to domains that are fundamentally irrational or non-rational—such as politics, emotion, or faith. Rationality Bias assumes that everything can be reasoned about, that every domain yields to logic, that irrational phenomena have rational explanations that will eventually be found. It leads to endless frustration: trying to logic someone out of a political position they didn't logic themselves into; trying to reason with emotion; trying to prove faith wrong. Rationality Bias mistakes the map for the territory, the tool for the task. It's the bias of those who think reason is the only game in town.
Rationality Bias Example: "He spent years trying to reason his relatives out of their political views—studies, arguments, evidence, logic. Nothing worked. Rationality Bias had convinced him that reason could reach any domain; it couldn't. Politics wasn't about evidence; it was about identity, emotion, belonging. He wasn't arguing; he was banging his head against a wall that reason couldn't penetrate."
Rationality Bias by Abzugal March 7, 2026
Counter-fallacies
The strategic deployment of fallacy accusations as a rhetorical weapon—using the language of logic not to identify errors but to dismiss opponents. Counter-fallacies are what happen when fallacy-spotting itself becomes fallacious. You cry "ad hominem" whenever someone criticizes you; you scream "straw man" whenever someone summarizes your position; you declare "slippery slope" whenever someone predicts consequences. The counter-fallacy turns logic into a cudgel, fallacy-naming into a silencing tactic. It's meta-fallacy: using the concept of fallacy to commit fallacies.
Counter-fallacies Example: "Every response she made was met with a fallacy label. 'Ad hominem!' (she'd mentioned his bias). 'Straw man!' (she'd summarized his argument). 'Slippery slope!' (she'd predicted a consequence). Counter-fallacy: using fallacy accusations to avoid engagement. He wasn't doing logic; he was doing rhetoric, using logic's language to silence discussion."
Counter-fallacies by Abzugal March 7, 2026
Neo-fallacies
New forms of fallacious reasoning that have emerged in the digital age—errors that didn't exist or weren't recognized before the internet. Neo-fallacies include sealioning (relentless bad-faith questioning), concern trolling (expressing fake concern to undermine), and the many forms of online manipulation documented earlier in this dictionary. They're fallacies for the networked age, adapted to the peculiar conditions of digital discourse. Recognizing neo-fallacies requires updating logical theory to match contemporary practice.
Neo-fallacies Example: "He wasn't arguing; he was sealioning—endless 'just asking questions' that never engaged, never satisfied, never ended. Neo-fallacy: a new form of bad-faith interaction enabled by digital platforms. She couldn't fight it with traditional fallacy tools; she had to recognize the new form and respond appropriately—by not engaging at all."
Neo-fallacies by Abzugal March 7, 2026