🧩 BND Motif Index · M716
Seriously, not literally
A leader's alarming words are defended as meant seriously, not literally: a way of speaking, an exaggeration to make a point, so taking them at their word is the critic's mistake.
- 1claim filed under it
- 2right shows it came up on
⚠️ 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
↔️ answers and mirrors:
- 🧩 Schrödinger's joke counter pair: Schrödinger's joke is the critics' charge, Seriously, not literally the defenders' reply
⏱️ both first told the same day (2026-10-06)
🔗 goes with: 🧩 Foot in mouth
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up, by the show's lean
🫏 left 0
🦗 none of our left shows, so far
⚖️ center 0
🦗 none of our center 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.
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, newest first, in our words, with where each was heard
- 2026-10-08 “The media is misrepresenting Trump's comments regarding Iran and American cities.”
🎙️ Louder with Crowder 🎙️ Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
M716 · first seen 2026-10-09 · last 2026-10-08 · what this is · how the index works