Definitions by Dumu The Void

Traumapost

A form of goalpost manipulation where the ultimate objective is to provoke maximum trauma in a target. The traumapost is the moving standard of safety, the shifting boundary that lures the target into revealing vulnerabilities. First, the target shares surface details. The baiter reciprocates, building trust. Then deeper details. More trust. Then traumas. Then triggers. Each step, the post moves—what feels safe expands, what seems normal to share grows—until the target has revealed everything that can hurt them. At that moment, the post stops moving, and the trauma begins. Every vulnerability is exploited, every trigger pulled, every wound reopened. The traumapost has done its work: mapped the target's psyche, then destroyed it.

Example: "They wanted to destroy her, so they set up a traumapost. First, they asked about her childhood. Innocent. Then her relationships. Still innocent. Then her losses. Vulnerable, but she trusted. Then her deepest traumas—the abuse, the grief, the fears. She told them everything, believing she'd found understanding. Then the messages started—each one targeting a specific trauma, each word chosen to wound. The post had moved gradually, inevitably, until she'd given them the map to her own destruction."

Traumapost by Dumu The Void February 18, 2026

Traumapot

A form of honeypot designed specifically to provoke trauma in multiple targets—a server, community, or group created to attract vulnerable people, learn their histories, and systematically traumatize them. A traumapot might present itself as a trauma support group, a safe space for survivors, a community for those with shared painful experiences. In reality, it's run by people who get satisfaction from causing pain: they listen, they learn, they wait—then they strike. Every vulnerability is cataloged, every trigger noted, every member a potential target. When the trap springs, the damage is maximal, targeted, and devastating.

Example: "The 'PTSD support server' seemed like a lifeline—survivors sharing coping strategies, supporting each other, healing together. The moderators were so understanding, so compassionate. Then, one night, they revealed themselves: every trigger documented, every trauma cataloged, every member targeted. Messages flooded in, each designed to cause maximum pain—images, words, memories carefully chosen to wound. The traumapot had been cultivated for months, and now it was harvested. Healing became harm; support became destruction."

Traumapot by Dumu The Void February 18, 2026

InPol (Involuntary Politicism)

A term for people who are involuntarily forced to join a political group or adopt a political position due to political, state, government, social, economic, or cultural pressure—despite internally disagreeing with or disliking that group or position. InPols are the conscripts of the political world: they must pretend allegiance, suppress dissent, and conform publicly while privately maintaining their true views. This can happen under authoritarian regimes (where non-conformity is dangerous), in polarized societies (where neutrality is impossible), in families (where deviation means exile), or in workplaces (where politics affects employment). InPol is the condition of those who wear political masks to survive, their true selves hidden, their real views unexpressed.

InPol (Involuntary Politicism) Example: "He worked in an industry where progressive politics were mandatory—not officially, but socially. To keep his job, he had to affirm views he didn't hold, support causes he doubted, join movements he questioned. He was InPol: involuntarily political, forced to perform allegiance while privately dissenting. At home, he was himself; at work, he was a character. The mask protected him but cost him daily."

InPol (Involuntary Politicism) by Dumu The Void February 18, 2026

InApol (Involuntary Apoliticism)

A term for people who are involuntarily apolitical—not by choice, but because they have been rejected from all possible political groups and communities due to having unique political views, positions outside the standard political spectrum, or views that don't fit any existing category. InApols are the orphans of the political world: they want to belong, to participate, to have a political home, but no group will have them. Left, right, center, libertarian, authoritarian, green, nationalist—all find them too strange, too inconsistent, too threatening. They wander the political landscape alone, their views ignored, their voices unheard, their participation impossible. InApol is the condition of those who are political by nature but homeless by circumstance.

InApol (Involuntary Apoliticism) Example: "She held views that combined elements of socialism and traditionalism, environmentalism and localism—positions that made sense to her but fit nowhere. The left called her conservative; the right called her radical; the center called her confused. She applied to every group, joined every community, and was rejected from all. She was InApol: involuntarily apolitical, wanting to belong but belonging nowhere. Politics happened around her; she watched, unrepresented, unwelcome, alone."

InApol (Involuntary Apoliticism) by Dumu The Void February 18, 2026

Government Exception Bias

A form of bias based on Winston Churchill's famous quote about democracy being "the worst form of Government except for all those other forms"—used to justify abuses, atrocities, and crimes committed by democratic, quasi-democratic, semi-democratic, or pseudo-democratic governments, particularly Western and liberal democratic ones. The bias works by establishing an impossible standard: democracy is judged against utopia, while alternatives are judged against their actual historical performance. Any democratic failure is excused by "but it's better than the alternatives"; any authoritarian success is dismissed as exceptional or temporary. Government exception bias allows democratic states to commit human rights abuses, wage illegal wars, and suppress dissent while maintaining the moral high ground—because, after all, they're not as bad as those regimes. The bias is most visible in discussions of Western foreign policy, where "flawed but still the best" becomes a blanket justification for anything.

Example: "When criticized for drone strikes killing civilians, he deployed government exception bias: 'Democracies make mistakes, but at least we're not a dictatorship that murders its own people.' The comparison was true but irrelevant—it excused specific atrocities by appealing to general superiority. The victims didn't care about comparative political science; they cared about being dead. Government exception bias had done its work: changing the subject from crime to comparison."

Government Exception Bias by Dumu The Void February 18, 2026

Objectivity Bias

A cognitive bias where a person believes their own views constitute objective reality, unbiased facts, and neutral truth—while dismissing anyone who disagrees as biased, delusional, psychotic, or schizophrenic. Unlike confirmation bias (seeking evidence that confirms existing beliefs), objectivity bias is meta-cognitive: it's not just about what you believe, but about how you evaluate your own believing. The objectivity-bias sufferer doesn't think they have a perspective; they think they have the perspective. Everyone else is distorted by ideology, emotion, or mental illness. This bias is epidemic in the 2020s, where political discourse has become a hall of mirrors: each side sees itself as clear-eyed realists and the other as brainwashed cult members. Objectivity bias makes dialogue impossible because it pathologizes disagreement—if you're not seeing reality, you must be crazy, not just different.

Example: "He couldn't understand how anyone could disagree with his political views. It wasn't that they had different values or information; they were simply 'brainwashed,' 'delusional,' 'living in an alternate reality.' Objectivity bias had convinced him that his perspective was not a perspective but reality itself. Everyone else was biased; he was just correct. The irony was invisible to him, which is how objectivity bias works."

Objectivity Bias by Dumu The Void February 18, 2026

Hasty Science

The practice of rushing to conclusions before evidence is adequate—publishing results before replication, announcing breakthroughs before verification, claiming certainty before understanding. Hasty science is what happens when pressure to publish, compete, or impress overrides scientific caution. It's the science of conference announcements, press releases, and Twitter threads—claims made before they're ready, promises that can't be kept. Hasty science is beloved of institutions seeking funding, researchers seeking fame, and journalists seeking stories. The cure is recognizing that science is slow for a reason, that replication takes time, that certainty is earned, not declared.

Example: "The lab announced a breakthrough in room-temperature superconductors—headlines worldwide, stock market frenzy, Nobel whispers. Then the results couldn't be replicated. Hasty science had struck again: the rush to announce had outpaced the science itself. The researchers retreated, the headlines faded, and the field moved on, slower and wiser."

Hasty Science by Dumu The Void February 18, 2026