I am not going to PREACH or RANT, but Demagogy, Redux . . .
Just a refresher course, kids.
From our friends at Wikipaedia:
Methods of demagogy
[edit] Methods not involving violations of logic
Apples and oranges — mixing of incomparable quantities. For example, "our government has increased social spending by 5 billion dollars, while the previous government has increased it only by 0.4 percent." Obviously, the latter sounds like less, but one cannot be sure without an absolute value.
Half-truth — making statements that are true only in a strict and relatively meaningless sense. For example, "the opposition have accused us of cutting foreign aid, but actually our government has increased foreign aid by 500 million dollars," not mentioning that (adjusted for inflation) the allocated funds have in fact gone down.
False authority — relying on the general authority of a person who is not proficient in the discussed topic. For example, "the professor read my book, and liked it very much," omitting the fact that it was a professor of chemistry who read a book on anthropology.
[edit] Methods involving violation of logic
False dilemma — assuming that there are only two possible opinions on a given topic. For example, "Smith is not with us, therefore he is against us," ignoring the possibility of a neutral position or divergence.
Demonization — identifying others as a mortal threat. Often this involves scapegoating — blaming others for one's own problems. This is often advanced by using vague terms to identify the opposition group and then stereotyping that group. This allows the demagogue to exaggerate this group's influence and ascribe any trait to them by identifying that trait in any individual in the group. This method can be aided by constructing a false dilemma that portrays opposition groups as having a value system that is the polar opposite of one's own, as opposed to simply having different priorities.
Straw man — mischaracterizing the opposing position and then arguing against the mischaracterization.
Loaded question — posing a question with an implied position that the opponent does not have. "When did you stop taking bribes?"
[edit] Arguments unrelated to a discussion
Unrelated facts — bringing unrelated facts that sound in favor of the speaker's agenda. For example, marking a vegetable or cereal product as "cholesterol free". Since cholesterol is only found in animal products, such labeling does not actually distinguish this product from similar competitors.
Emotional appeal or personal attack — attempting to bring a discussion to an emotional level. For example, "Everyone is against me!", "Can't I be right just once?", "You're stupid!", "You are demagoguing!" or just the classic retort "Shut up!"
[edit] See also
Big Lie
Logical fallacy
Loaded question
Polemic
Populism
Sophistry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogy
From our friends at Wikipaedia:
Methods of demagogy
[edit] Methods not involving violations of logic
Apples and oranges — mixing of incomparable quantities. For example, "our government has increased social spending by 5 billion dollars, while the previous government has increased it only by 0.4 percent." Obviously, the latter sounds like less, but one cannot be sure without an absolute value.
Half-truth — making statements that are true only in a strict and relatively meaningless sense. For example, "the opposition have accused us of cutting foreign aid, but actually our government has increased foreign aid by 500 million dollars," not mentioning that (adjusted for inflation) the allocated funds have in fact gone down.
False authority — relying on the general authority of a person who is not proficient in the discussed topic. For example, "the professor read my book, and liked it very much," omitting the fact that it was a professor of chemistry who read a book on anthropology.
[edit] Methods involving violation of logic
False dilemma — assuming that there are only two possible opinions on a given topic. For example, "Smith is not with us, therefore he is against us," ignoring the possibility of a neutral position or divergence.
Demonization — identifying others as a mortal threat. Often this involves scapegoating — blaming others for one's own problems. This is often advanced by using vague terms to identify the opposition group and then stereotyping that group. This allows the demagogue to exaggerate this group's influence and ascribe any trait to them by identifying that trait in any individual in the group. This method can be aided by constructing a false dilemma that portrays opposition groups as having a value system that is the polar opposite of one's own, as opposed to simply having different priorities.
Straw man — mischaracterizing the opposing position and then arguing against the mischaracterization.
Loaded question — posing a question with an implied position that the opponent does not have. "When did you stop taking bribes?"
[edit] Arguments unrelated to a discussion
Unrelated facts — bringing unrelated facts that sound in favor of the speaker's agenda. For example, marking a vegetable or cereal product as "cholesterol free". Since cholesterol is only found in animal products, such labeling does not actually distinguish this product from similar competitors.
Emotional appeal or personal attack — attempting to bring a discussion to an emotional level. For example, "Everyone is against me!", "Can't I be right just once?", "You're stupid!", "You are demagoguing!" or just the classic retort "Shut up!"
[edit] See also
Big Lie
Logical fallacy
Loaded question
Polemic
Populism
Sophistry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogy
posted by Abstentus at 9:08 PM
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