As in, SellsWords
Philosophical Mercenaries.
That's the next big enemy. In fact, they've been here all along, but it's gotten to the point where the red line in the sand is encroaching upon their ability to act, and they are primed to self-destruct.
You probably don't know exactly what I mean, so that's what this post is about.
There has long existed a class of philosophers and popular speakers whose primary goal and vocation has been to infiltrate a political movement, appear as intellectual allies to that political movement, promote talking points and engage in philosophical debates, and carefully craft narratives and theoretical equivalencies which have strategically exploitable backdoors which the enemies of that movement can use to undermine said political movement.
Spies and Insurgents, in a way.
The original name for such a vocation, and class, is called Sophism. Anyone who goes about creating arguments with backdoors which can be hacked apart by the opposition are called Sophists.
https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/sophism
SOPH'ISM, noun [Latin sophisma.] A specious but fallacious argument; asubtilty in reasoning; an argument that is not supported by sound reasoning , or in which the inference is not justly deduced from the premises. When a false argument puts on the appearance of a true one, then it is properly called a sophism or fallacy.
These SellsWords are especially dangerous because they can produce memes which a movement will get wrapped up in and subsequently burned by association as the Mass Media entities tear it apart. They win by forcing you to die on a hill which they secretly built up to explode.
Such schemes can be as subtle as they are malicious.
For example, consider the difference between these two similar debate points:
- Men cannot get pregnant.
- Only women can get pregnant.
What, you may ask, is the difference? Well, the first is an objective fact. The second is the Sophist's argument with an explosive backdoor.
Saying "only women can get pregnant" implies that women who are barren, and infertile, are not women, and therefore the argument and your stance is void because you are not accounting for all variables and exceptions to the rule.
By phrasing things just so, it permits the enemy to exploit the position by shifting the argument in a lateral direction, away from your key logical point, and towards a ground which they can cast you as a villain and as uncompassionate towards those who are infertile.
Among us in the movement are imposters*(kek)*, who promote flawed talking points and then casually send out flares for the stooges on social media to use as a que, at which point they then work to discredit the movement by deposing the intentionally flawed talking point.
Some of the laziest arguments can be seen as flat-earthers, jew-haters, boomer-bashers, etc. Those pushing such talking points are the lowest paid.
Then there are the highest paid shills and purveyors of subterfuge, who will drop red-pill after red-pill but make sure the capsule is dampened such that it gets caught in the throat on the way down. They make sure we end up re-tweeting and supporting their causes, and then plop out a big fat turd which is used to discredit them and those who follow them.
They give spicy hot-takes, and may even run for office at times.
Eventually, however, they manage to net enough of a following into their words that they become too hazardous to the enemy in terms of red-pilling, even if some of the arguments get stuck half-way down. They get so big that the discrediting efforts get overlooked.
At this point they must self-destruct and as a result lead their followers to feel abandoned, hopeless, demoralized, and even wanderers looking for another home, then taking their flawed arguments other places and souring their legitimacy as well.
Some of the bigger examples which I personally suspect are the likes of Alex Jones, Ben Shapiro, Steven Crowder, and possibly Jordan Peterson.
Those that remember the days of The Colbert Report might recall that he made a lot of pro-Conservative points in contrast to John Stewart's The Daily Show. I remember agreeing to some of his jokes that bashed Obama and Democrats, and that's what made him so dangerous. Those jokes were crafted specifically to undermine Conservative free-thought and allow them to curate and control the debate points on both sides.
Often, what they say isn't false, it's how they say it. When you parrot those talking points exactly, it allows their base to fire back with effective "got-ya's!"
Much of it is very true and revealing; just like the statement "only women can get pregnant" isn't necessarily false. However, the way the fact is stated and presented can result in the Truth being cast in a negative light, which turns away Normies.
We call this Controlled Opposition, but the original name for the vocation is a Sophist. A paid philosopher hired to be an intellectual insurgent in a political movement.
Beware the SellsWords.
That you had to elaborate and clarify, clarify, clarify is proof in how effective such a thing can be to derail a debate/conversation.
They want you to continue to clarify what you meant instead of attacking them because they have no logical basis for their side of the argument.
So many online debates and discussions involve Conservatives being forced into a defensive position with no way out. Because Conservatives are held to a moral ruleset we are vulnerable when we are seemingly not in keeping with that moral ruleset.
Saul Alinksy's 4th rule for radicals says as much: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
By keeping us on the defensive, in defending our moral state, they can permanently stay in an offensive posture -- attacking your character instead of defending their wonky worldview.
I'm not accusing you of derailing. Rather, they would easily use your words to derail the topic and cast you as a boogeyman.
You're right, but you're "too right."
Consider why the tactic is effective.
For example, you linked to a book of rules which they don't follow. If you make a single misstep in the rules, they will use it to attack your credibility and the credibility of your source. You cannot win on facts, logic, precedent, etc.
Meanwhile they completely disregard those rules, so they can break them or use them against you at a whim.
The second you try to bring up any set of rules and offer a longwinded explanation of what a Woman is to you, you only open the door for them to pick apart every bit of your stance by holding you to that rule set.
As soon as you begin to clarify, they will pursue you and force you to clarify every word you say. They then refuse your definitions, and when you try to coax theirs out they change the subject.
If you want a perfect example of this playing out, watch the Andrew Tate vs Piers Morgan "interview."
I don't care about Andrew Tate, but the discourse between them shows exactly how easily you can be backed into a corner and forced to clarify over and over while being unable to get your actual thoughts across.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGWGcESPltM
Because you don't want to be villainized, it's easy for them to abuse you.
While I think your post was good, not sure your example was. I think "only women can get pregnant" is a totally valid statement which really has no counter arguments.
You might not see a problem with it, but they can use it to say "Then what about infertile women? Are they not women?"
Then it's no longer a discussion about whether or not men can get pregnant, but how horrible of a person you are that you don't see infertile women as women.
Then, when you say "infertile women are women" they will say "then trans women are women, because they are infertile."
Round and round you go, never actually talking about the objective truth in the matter. You're stuck on the defensive because they force you to clarify over and over again to avoid being seen as uncompassionate to a "victim" class, such as barren or elderly women.
Next thing you know, you're backed into a position holding beliefs you hadn't really thought about for the sake of "winning" the argument. You'll end up saying things you don't really believe necessarily because you think it can get you out of their trap.
Instead of all that, you could have just said "men cannot get pregnant" and avoided the whole sordid mess about fertility and what it is to be a woman.
They use exceptions to the rule against you, always, because you're the only one applying any rules. They break them as they please, which provides a very strong offense tactic.
He's onto something here. I experienced it with trying to voice my opinion with a group of friends that I believe free markets are good.
That topic aside, they took issue with it and probed me with questions. At first not to clarify, but to tell me I was wrong and for so & so reasons. Then I make a rebuttal with some evidence and logic. Then they twist that evidence and logic to dismantle it with some unrelated point of their own. Then they finally ask me to clarify on some definitions. So I do that. All through they stop me constantly to poke holes in the definitions so I gotta clarify even further
6 hours later at 3 in the morning and I never really got to convey the reasons why I thought free markets were good. After making just that opinion alone it was just constantly talking in circles about defining things without ever getting into the meat of it. They never let me fully outline the opinion or the reasoning behind it
This is so true. I've experienced this a lot these past few months.
The beautiful irony here, is that your post has already brought some sophistry to the surface. Kek.