Why No One Takes a Position Alone: What DuBois Found in The Stance Triangle

The Strategic Linguist Podcast · Aug 4, 2026 · 25m

This breakdown of DuBois’s stance triangle includes understanding:The three things every stance does at once — evaluate an object, position the speaker, align with whoever’s listening — whether anyone in the room notices or notWhat a single word like either is doing grammatically that “I agree” alone never could, and why it isn’t optionalThe difference between going first in a room and being right in a room — and why they get treated as the same thingWhy sycophancy is a trained stance pattern, not a character flaw — and what it shares with how the models everyone’s currently arguing with…