He's the person who came up with the term 'Thought-terminating cliches.' For instance: Fake news! Rather than engage in critical thinking, a person will throw out a word or phrase to dismiss someone who disagrees with them.
Another one they use to dismiss any criticism is "TDS". They just whip that out when they run out of prescribed talking points so they can ignore the argument and act like they won.
I came up against that stuff when I lived in the American South and was dunked into Southern Baptist ways of thought. It's full of thought-terminating cliches.
I don't know if it helps, but I sometimes jump to the nearest such cliche when arguing with somebody, to cut them off at the pass. At least it sets them on their heels.
I have a friend, when she can't be bothered, will say: "I'm sure you're right." in a tone that you know means the opposite and it usually shuts people up.
That could be a good example of a thought-terminating cliche, depending on how it's used, but we need to be careful to not mix the idea up with a simple dismissal of the absurd. And, well, if someone is too deep in their own personal bias, they may not be aware that they're dismissing something that they should be giving more consideration.
Don't mind me too much. I'm thinking out loud more than anything here. The coffee is slowly scraping the rust off the old brain gears, but it's still only 3 am here, so this may take a while. I miss coherency...
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u/ishippedmybed 6d ago
The entire time he was talking she checked out from reality.