A form of self-strawman, belief, or philosophy which can never be pinned down or held to account for anything it contends. Like pseudo-theory it explains everything anything and nothing, all at the same time – but in addition, carries a canned and memorized deflection for any question or flaw which might arise.

It is a merging of self and God or Science into one unassailable egregore.

Strike with your winnowing sword
   yet it reveals an unwemmed essence
For that which spills no blood in battle
   yields no substance to grasp, no soul to tether

In my youth I often ventured into the foggy Appalachian mountain early mornings with my beagle for a bit of rabbit hunting. Rabbit hunting, I learned, demanded a deep understanding of the rabbit’s cunning and evasion tactics, a mindset akin to thinking like the prey itself. While I found skinning and cleaning a rabbit to be a fairly straightforward task, the meat proved challenging for me in terms of its toughness and gamey taste. Nonetheless, I believed in consuming what I hunted as a mark of respect and responsibility – postulating as well that the consumption of wild game served to transform the innate strength of the predator as compared with those who consumed only domesticated and nutrient-diluted foods.

The art of rabbit hunting with a beagle lies not in having the dog chase the rabbit around and back to the hunter necessarily, but rather in deciphering the rabbit’s tactics of evasion against the dog in terms of cold and circular scent trail. By anticipating the rabbit’s deceptive maneuvers and placing one’s self along its surreptitious pathway of escape, the skilled hunter can outsmart and take the prey.

The rabbit has evolved to understand the dog, but it has not evolved to perceive the hidden predator behind the dog. We as a species must undertake such a spiritual journey of evolution ourselves.

I recall one particular chilly November morning, as my beagle bayed to some circular scent trail off in the distance, the particular rabbit in question snuck back to its secondary den hole by means of its cleverly planned route. Positioned with my 20-gauge shotgun, I patiently awaited along this exact pathway of escape, successfully intercepting it as it lept over a fallen tree. Once holding the rabbit by its hind legs, I would then typically wait for my beagle to eventually find his way to our ‘hot-trail’ location, and allow him the reward of taking his prey as well. Beagles in this state of pursuit appear to enter a sort of trance or fever, their eyes rolled funny, fully unable to behave as a normal dog until their instinctual mind senses that the prey has been won. Thereafter, we would head back to perform the day’s work. This experience later proved invaluable in understanding the tactics of less-than-scrupulous humans as well.

The hunt itself brought a primal satisfaction, not rooted in a sense of self-pride or superiority over another species, but rather in an ironic and profound humility. Hunting was about the raw essence of survival, the disciplined application of skill to task, all aimed at ensuring a mutual benefit for all involved. It was not about the loosh of harming another being. Moreover, I found neutralizing the tactics of the trickster deeply satisfying as well – a gestalt that resonated with me on a profound level.

Humans and Other Spiritual Rabbits

One of the tactics of human rabbits is a principle I call the ‘Wicker Man’. This is a self-constructed framework of argumentation, used to defend an overarching philosophy or belief system, by weaving together various fallacious tactics. It is a type of purposeful self strawman, which evades penetration by the critical path sword of the opponent, because there is actually no real substance behind the philosophical facade to begin with. It is a wicker man – a false image, a rabbit trail of belief which one protects and conceals through deflection apologetic. Theist and Atheist alike employ this tactic – camps serving to artificially bifurcate mankind into warring religious factions which serve to conceal the hunter – their sacred wicker men battling like King Kong and Godzilla over the city of mankind’s collective conscience.

One significant aspect of spirituality involves the participant’s capacity to comprehend the mindset of the trickster. Whether you “believe in” this spiritual game or not, or even wield a choice not to participate, is inconsequential – you are already inexorably a part of it, and your journey entails perceiving the machinations and deceptions involved. Ducking down the ready cul-de-sacs of ‘I do or do not believe in God’ or ‘I follow The Science or God’s Word’ constitute an essential shirking of this responsibility and reality we all bear. The predator is perfectly happy to have you wallow in such lanes of rhetorical ignorance and craft your wicker edifice of choice, as they present little threat to his power. You are the erstwhile rabbit hopping merrily along its supposedly cunning path.

The Wicker Man (A Belief Protected by a Comprehensive System of Deflection)

Refers to a system of apologetics that deflects and renders moot every viable means of testing a philosophy in question. By never having to actually stand to account, the philosophy is thereafter assumed to be non-falsifiably ‘true’. This position, akin to the concept of ‘the ultimate self-strawman’, allows for numerous special exemptions to be pleaded or for apologists to habitually spin any critique offered towards their side as strawman, ignorance, or tu quoque errors. As a result, the defended philosophy or position in reality bears no real defining essence that can be pinned down in the first place. These tactics include

– Inverse negation (use of skepticism against all but a favored single idea)
– Circular argument
– ad hoc rescue
– Appeal to authority
– the No True Scotsman fallacy, and/or
– the presentation of non-falsifiable claims

All of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization’s ‘3 to 4% case fatality ratio’ (which we were the first to dispel), masking, lockdowns, fomite transmission model (which we showed as false), origins-prior-immunity-timing (which we were the first to elucidate), absentee ballot necessitation, vaccine EUA denial of treatment, as well as its ‘safe & effective’ final solution (which we were also the first to raise the alarm over) …all of Covid-19 pandemic policy was indeed an exercise in the rapid assembly of a wicker man.

Perhaps this was the actual drill and purpose behind all the chaos. It is not a future pandemic which the hunter is targeting – rather something of even greater consequence. A dress rehearsal of such importance, that a sitting US President was willing to manufacture a deadlier version of a highly communicable virus in a lab, transfer its research to the Chinese PLA in a fit of appearances, and murder of hundreds of millions of people in its execution.

A specific type of Wicker Man might be one where the proponent does not even admit nor reveal the argument or philosophy they are protecting in the first place. Atheists often conceal their nihilism in this manner (knowing that the latter philosophy bears no sound evidence).

ideam tutela (Latin: ‘idea’ ‘protection’) – concealed agency. A questionable idea or religious belief which is surreptitiously promoted through an inverse negation. A position which is concealed by an arguer because of their inability to defend it, yet is protected at all costs without its mention – often through attacking without sound basis, every other form of opposing idea.

This intricate structure serves to insulate the central belief of the arguer from criticism or falsification, as each layer of fallacy is memorized and at the ready, purposed to deflect or absorb objections without betraying the core argument. In essence, the Wicker Man becomes a self-protective shield of fallacies, making the overarching philosophy appear resilient to external critique through a series of evasive and self-reinforcing arguments. This concept highlights a sophisticated and elaborate method of intellectual defense often encountered in debates, especially on deeply entrenched or ideologically driven topics.

The overarching philosophy in such a debate context, particularly when it’s not explicitly admitted to, can be described semantically as an ‘implicit premise’ or ‘unstated assumption’. These terms refer to the foundational belief or principle that underlies and informs the various arguments and fallacies presented, but which is often not directly acknowledged or openly stated by the person employing the argument. It is their concealed rabbit trail.

In discussions, especially those involving complex or ideologically charged topics, the implicit premise shapes the direction and nature of the arguments, even if it’s not overtly declared. Recognizing and understanding this underlying premise is often key to engaging effectively in such debates and addressing the core issues at play.

The astute reader may notice that this realization constitutes an essential tenet of ignosticism as well. I am not The Science. I am not God’s Representative. These are the foundational humilities of an authentic spiritual journey—the hunt itself.

LLL

The Ethical Skeptic, “The Wicker Man Belief”; The Ethical Skeptic, WordPress, 29 Mar 2024; Web, https://theethicalskeptic.com/?p=83111