It has come to my attention that there are facets of how a woman argues that are being ignored by some shadowy unnameable figures within the man’o'sphere. For the most part we are all aware, or at least should be aware, of the catalog of shaming language. Shaming language is the standard fall back for women and white knights. But that tactic is directed at the offender, the apostate, the blasphemer. Those who challenge the orthodoxy of the misandrist zeitgeist will feel the brunt of shaming language in an attempt to silence dissension. On the other hand, what can be done to influence the uninformed to steer clear of the Gnostic, the idolator, the great sinner and pied piper of all that is unholy? A different tactic is needed.
What is this tactic, you ask? Ah. It is the combination of sleight of hand and misdirection. Like a skilled illusionist, the master weaves a web of misdirection, half truths, and false associations. What is the master’s goal? To play to the prejudices of his target. To access those mental shortcuts that we all use in our day to day life. To engage the emotional part of the brain and shut down the rational. This is the illusionist’s goal, and it is easier to accomplish than you might think.
For example. The apostate can say, ‘”The size and scope of government exploded as a result of women’s suffrage.” A woman would reply, “You would say that, you’re a man.” The assumption or follow on is therefore that the apostate’s statement is false. This is an example of an Ad Hominem argument. The fallacy is that the character, circumstances, or actions of the apostate do not, in most cases, have any bearing on his statement. Sometimes an ad hominem will take the form of a Circumstantial Ad Hominem. In this case, the person making the claim will supposedly benefit from his/her claim being true.
A slightly different variation on the above is the Ad Hominem Tu Quoque. In this instance something the apostate did or said in the past which is now in contradiction to what he may be saying now is brought up to discredit their current statement. In reality, past statements have no bearing on whether or not their current statements are true. However, as human’s we love to point out someone else’s hypocrisy.
One of the easiest methods to influence others are to engage the various mental short cuts we all use daily. An Appeal to Authority is one such. Al Gore is an expert on Global Warming. Al says the oceans will rise 3-feet over the next 50 years. Al’s an expert, so he must be right about how much the seas will rise. No examination of the claim is necessary. The expert has spoken, it must be true.
The pull of the group is strong. The skilled illusionist knows this. An Appeal to Belief can be a very effective tool of influence. For example: Most people believe women get paid 70-cents for every dollar that men get paid. Therefore the wage gap must exist.
A couple of weeks ago Talleyrand put up a picture of Sandra Bullock and Scarlett Johanson kissing at the MTV awards show. The Social Pathologist wrote a series discussing how media influences women. Knowing this, one can make an Appeal to Common Practice. Women kissing women happens all the time. Women kissing other women is fine, moral, justified, and reasonable. Why would you be upset by that.
Influence take on many guises. One of the best is an Appeal to Emotion. Make your subject feel good about themselves. That they are smart or that they are making a positive impact in some way. Do your part to save the environment, recycle. People feel good about themselves when they reduce, reuse, recycle. Does it really make a difference when much of what they recycle ends up in the landfill anyway. No, but they get the positive feelings, plus they can feel superior to the proles who don’t recycle.
Fear has always been a great motivator. An Appeal to Fear works great for the ladies. The mysterious Patriarchy wants to enslave/rape/shackle women. We need an equal rights amendment/VAWA/Title IX to protect us. Never underestimate the value of fear to convince someone of the veracity of your argument.
A personal favorite of mine is the false dilemma. Make two claims in an either/or form. Force your target to choose between the two. In reality they could both be false or they can both be true. One does not predispose the other to be opposite, but the person asked to choose doesn’t know that.
This post was preliminarily titled Guilt by Association, but as you can see I changed that. The reason for this is quite simple. I wanted to talk about more than just that, and I felt that would narrow the topic down too much. Guilt by Association is pretty easy to recognize. I don’t like those (insert whatever wacko group you want). Those wackos believe the sky is blue. I don’t like them, so the sky can’t be blue.
One of the most often use tactics in politics is called Poisoning the Well. Propagandists use this tactic all the time. Find or make up something unfavorable about your opponent. Then claim anything he says can’t be true because of said unfavorable item. For example: Dave in Hawaii is a conspiracy theorist, you can’t trust anything he says about relationships and women.
How about fish? Do you like fish? I like the Red Herring. This one’s really good and tasty. Women do this all the time. You’ll be having an argument about something, I don’t know what. All of the sudden she brings up a past event or past action by you. All of a sudden you find you’re defending yourself on a completely unrelated subject. For Example: Dave in Hawaii is a conspiracy theorists. Dave links to Henry Makow another conspiracy theorist. Henry Makow is a mangina for a whole list of reasons, therefore Dave in Hawaii is a mangina.
There are a whole host of other logical fallacies that I have not addressed, but this post is getting long. We can debate the merits all day long on conspiracy theories and theorists using half truths, innuendo, misdirection and shaming language. If you want to take them on then do so in a dispassionate manner a la PMAFT. Personally, I don’t worry about truthers and other conspiracy theorists. They’ll show up in any forum and in any age. You’re wasting your energy that could be better spent elsewhere.
