🧩 BND Motif Index · M526
Punching down
Someone in a position of power is attacking someone with much less power
🗣️ Arguments🗂️ Comebacks🗂️ Abuse of power
- 10claims filed under it
- 5left shows it came up on
- 4center shows it came up on
- 3claims retold online
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🪜 Its family
what it rests on, what rests on it, and the motifs that answer it
⤵️ under it: 🧩 Targeting minorities 🧩 The bullied become bullies
🔗 goes with: 🧩 They're out of control
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up, by the show's lean
🫏 left 5
🎙️ The Adam Mockler Show 🎙️ The Kyle Kulinski Show 🎙️ The Majority Report (podcast) 🎙️ The Young Turks (podcast) 🎙️ Today, Explained
⚖️ center 4
🎙️ BBC Global News Podcast 🎙️ Breaking Points 🎙️ Politico Playbook 🎙️ The Take (Al Jazeera)
🐘 right 0
🦗 none of our right shows, so far
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
📰 In the news
the stories its claims were told about, the most told first (matched by our tools, so a link can be wrong)
- 📰 Israeli settlers attack Palestinians and a U.S. photojournalist during olive harvest 2026-10-16 to 2026-10-19
- 📰 Israel orders West Bank lockdown after soldiers killed in attack 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, newest first, in our words, with where each was heard
- 2026-10-27 “Donald Trump abuses power dynamics in his personal and professional life.”
🎙️ The Adam Mockler Show 🎙️ The Kyle Kulinski Show - 2026-10-25 “Israel is using collective punishment by demolishing Palestinian homes and besieging Hebron.”
🎙️ The Young Turks (podcast) 🎙️ BBC Global News Podcast - 2026-10-25 “The Israeli military is conducting a large-scale operation in the West Bank that has forcibly displaced many Palestinians.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-24 “Israel is planning a full-scale assault on the largest city in the West Bank under the pretense of protecting soldiers.”
🎙️ BBC Global News Podcast 🎙️ The Young Turks (podcast) - 2026-10-17 “Masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and a journalist during the olive harvest.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-16 “Roger Marshall uses rhetoric that humiliates and bullies specific groups of people to win elections.”
🎙️ Politico Playbook - 2026-10-16 “Settlers are attacking the olive harvest to destroy the crops.”
🎙️ Breaking Points - 2026-10-09 “Israeli settlers are increasingly attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.”
🎙️ Today, Explained 🎙️ The Majority Report (podcast) 🎙️ The Take (Al Jazeera) - 2026-10-07 “The Sonic fandom is toxic and engages in bullying, targeting marginalized groups like Exe fans, while also being manipulated by trolls and bad actors.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-08-29 “A swing voter says Moulton's comments on transgender athletes hammer a small minority that doesn't deserve it, and smack of political positioning.” 🗳️ voters in The Focus Group
M526 · first seen 2026-10-06 · last 2026-10-25 · what this is · how the index works