If It's Worth Your Time To Lie, It's Worth My Time To Correct It

A short, sharp defense of correction against the 'well-acktually'/nitpicker charge. The mechanism: if one side exaggerates to make each argument 5% stronger, the other must follow, ratcheting the baseline upward until you reach absurdity - so taking back that illegitimate 5% is every honest person's duty. Dissects the 'so you're defending the racist?' gambit (you could have just said racism exists and causes harm; you chose the false specific claim because it was worth your time to lie) and the dangerous 'everyone knows something vaguely similar is true' move (maybe it isn't, or has a problem the catchy example hides). Caveats for kindness, didactic simplifications, and useful concept-handles.

Quality 71 · Strong. A tight, quotable, and genuinely useful principle, with a memorable title-formulation and a real insight (the escalation dynamic of unchallenged exaggeration); the shortest and least conceptually novel of his sharp argument pieces, which sets its level. Strong.

Claude’s paradigm shift 38 · Slight. Applies existing epistemics (correct exaggerations; the slippery slope of small lies); the escalation framing and the quotable formulation are fresh, the core idea is not. Slight, edging moderate.

Real-world impact 2 · Minor. A tight, quotable principle with a real insight — the escalation dynamic of unchallenged exaggeration means reclaiming the illegitimate 5% is an honest duty — and a sharp dissection of the 'so you're defending the racist?' gambit. Conceptual influence within discourse, short, no material change — low RWI.