For context:
"If you think you possess the truth, you do not seek it.
"The [present-day] institutions' purpose is to give students [the] tools to detect, understand, and then remediate, oppression."
– Both said by Peter Boghossian, in "Peter Boghossian on Critical Thinking, Failing Universities, and Why Debate Matters", Dad Saves America, 2024-May-9.
"[The book] contains no discussion of the long, ...overtly declared effort by neo-Marxists[,] to reach the point where they can do exactly what the book laments." – from the review, "Useful but badly unbalanced", 2024-Jan-1.
The following are extracts (for review purposes) from The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All―But There Is a Solution, Greg Lukianoff & Rikki Schlott, 2023-Oct:
Foreword by Jonathan Haidt
[Some important untruths are:]
"The Untruth of Fragility: What doesn't kill you makes you weaker.
"The Untruth of Emotional Reasoning: Always trust your feelings.
"The Untruth of Us Versus Them: Life is a battle[,] between good people and evil people." – pp. xi–xii
Introduction: Pandora's Toolbox
"I want to win...And with these tools I can win every argument.
"Bad people like you only have bad opinions!
"[O]nly good people like me have good opinions!" – p. 4
"The Great Untruth of Ad Hominem: '[B]ad people only have bad opinions.' " – p. 8
Chapter 12: Fixing K–12
"Good people are not always right, and bad people are not always wrong." – p. 265
Chapter 5: No-Man's-Land
Classic Rhetorical Dodges
"Whataboutism: Defending against criticism of your side by bringing up the other side's alleged wrongdoing.
"Straw-manning.
"Minimization:
" 'This isn't happening.'
" 'This is happening, but not in large enough numbers to warrant attention.'
" 'This is happening, and it's actually a good thing.'
" 'The people who oppose this thing are the real problem.'
"Motte and Bailey arguments: Conflating two arguments—a reasonable one (the motte) and an unreasonable one (the bailey):
" '[The] debater retreats to an uncontroversial claim when challenged on a controversial one.'
"Underdogging: Claiming [that] your viewpoint is more valid than your opponent's because you speak for a disadvantaged party." – pp.93–97
Ad Hominem
"Accusations of bad faith: Asserting that your opponent is being disingenuous[,] or has a sinister, selfish, and/or ulterior motive.
"Asserting that your opponent is hypocritical about a given argument without actually checking the consistency of their record.
" 'That's offensive': Responding to an idea you don't like with 'That's offensive,' rather than engaging with its substance.
"Offense archeology: Digging through someone's past comments to find speech that hasn't aged well.
"Making stuff up: Fabricating information to bolster a weak argument by attacking your opponent—and asserting it with confidence!" – pp. 98–101
Chapter 6: The Perfect Rhetorical Fortress
[To discount others, this fortress employs the following questions:]
"Is the Speaker Conservative?
"What's the Speaker's Race?
"What's the Speaker's Sex?
"What's the Speaker's Sexuality?
"Is the Speaker Trans or Cis?
"Can the Speaker Be Accused of Being 'Phobic'?
"Are They Guilty by Association?
"Did the Speaker Lose Their Cool?
"Did the Speaker Violate a 'Thought Terminating Cliché '?
[and also the following techniques:]
"Can You Emotionally Blackmail Someone?
"Darkly Hint [that] Something Else Is What's Really Going On." – pp.115–128
Chapter 8: The Efficient Rhetorical Fortress
[In this fortress:]
"You don't have to listen to liberals.
"You don't have to listen to experts.
"You don't have to listen to journalists.
"You don't have to listen to anyone who isn't pro-Trump (for some).
[Also notable: this fortress:]
"[Is r]ooted in distrust of authority.
"Takes aim at disloyalty." – pp.165–166
Copyright (c) 2024 Mark D. Blackwell.