( Jenna, Do you know what the rhetorical technique of Critique refers to? TACTIC

( Jenna,

Do you know what the rhetorical technique of Critique refers to?

TACTICS

(a) Heaping of undue praise on one’s heroes, rather than their arguments.

(b) Rallying, shaming, framing, suggestion, and overloading, rather than empirical decidability based upon the evidence.

(c) Psychologism(shaming) rather than incentives(logic)

(d) Ad hominem of the person rather than criticizing the argument.

(e) Proposing trivial straw man arguments as an excuse for lengthy discourse on psychologism, ad hominem, rallying, shaming and heaping of undue praise.

(f) Failing to propose an alternative solution and subjecting it to equal scrutiny.

(g) The use of false equivalency. The use of asymmetric judgement. The use of selective evidence. The use of ‘fixed pie’ economic reasoning.

(f) Using suggestion that can be readily self-interpreted, rather than argument that can be analytically tested with little room for interpretation.

The reductio explanation of this technique is that it’s “a literary form of gossip.”

WHY IS GOSSIP POSSIBLE?

Setting aside why we permit free speech rather than only truthful speech – a problem for philosophers – why is gossip more possible in the current era than prior eras?

We stopped teaching grammar, logic, and rhetoric earlier in the last century for three reasons:

1) it would have undermined the marxist/socialist/feminist education program

2) it readily exposes the differences in student abilities as a near perfect reflection of class.

3) it is quite hard for ‘teachers’ who are from the bottom 16 % of their classes (just below journalists) to teach grammar, rhetoric and logic.

Today we would have to add basic economics: grammar, logic, rhetoric and micro-economics (the science of incentives) to the ancient educational curriculum.

However, if the body politic were taught grammar, logic, rhetoric, and micro-economics (incentives) then it would be impossible for many writers (yourself included it appears) to see his or her words represented in modern font.

WHY DECEIVE?

I specialize in truthful speech. This specialty requires a great deal of understanding of untruthful speech. And gossip (Critique) is a well developed technique for conveying untruthful speech. It is the secular version of deception that we invented to replace mystical deception.

The question is, why, if one is correct, right, true, and just, why one would rely on Critique (Gossip) in lieu of argument?

We can say one lacks the skill, absent talent. We can say one is an unknowing pawn in the great game, and absent intent. We can say that one is a purveyor of deceit by intent.

But it is hard for the audience to know whether one lacks intelligence, whether one is a fool, or whether one is a liar.

Because when we speak truthfully and empirically then we can be judged on the content of our arguments, and by the content of our arguments, the content of our character.

Curt Doolittle

The Propertarian Institute

Kiev Ukraine

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