Argumentum ad nauseam
An argumentum ad nauseam (also known as an argument by repetition) is the logical fallacy that something becomes true if it is repeated often enough. An ad nauseam argument that can be easily shown to be false leads to the "point refuted a thousand times".
Cogito ergo sum Logic and rhetoric |
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General logic |
Bad logic |
v - t - e |
—Shockofgod |
Due to the modern 24 hour cable news cycle and the fact that every idiot now has a blog, argumentum ad nauseam has become particularly prevalent. In politics it is usually used in the form of a talking point, which is then reduced to a three second sound bite and is repeated at every available opportunity. On the blogosphere it takes the form of a meme, where every like-minded blogger repeats a statement used by a fellow blogger. Twitter, where every message has to be less than 280 (and until recently just 140) characters, has only made this latter form of viral propaganda worse.
Repeating an opinion again and again seems to convince people that it is true — maybe because it simulates the effect of many people having that opinion.
Examples
- 9/11 was an inside job.
- The Jews are to blame for Germany's problems!
- Anti-racist is a codeword for anti-white.
- Carthago delenda est
File:Wikipedia's W.svg - CNN is fake news.
- Evolution is just a theory.
- The "Founding Fathers" intended for the USA to be a Christian nation.
- Actually, it's about ethics in game journalism.
- "HeadOn, apply directly to forehead! HeadOn, apply directly to forehead! HeadOn, apply directly to forehead! HeadOn, apply directly to forehead! HeadOn, apply directly to forehead!"
- The Earth hasn't warmed since 1998.
- "I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me" And it'll be yuge!
- Jobs and growth
- "Hope, reward, opportunity"
- "Mexico will pay for that wall."
- The New World Order is nearly upon us!
- No blood for oil.
- "No Carbon tax" / "Axe the tax"
- No passenger railway in the world makes a profit
- Obamacare will install death panels and kill your grandmother.
- The creation-evolution debate is a debate about worldviews.
- "Stop the boats"
- Ron Paul
2008201220162020. - The science of global warming is still unclear.
- There is no pay gap!
- There are no transitional fossils.
- There are only two genders.
- Wake up!
- Life begins at conception.
- "Yes we can." (among other political slogans)
- "Make America Great Again".
- ”God is good”
- Taxation is theft
Parodies
“”
"Just the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried, |
—Lewis Carroll, The Hunting Of The Snark |
See also
- PRATT
- Big lie
- Philip J. Rayment
- Fun:Creationist argument Bingo
- Gish Gallop
- Infinite regress
- Circular reasoning
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External links
- See the Wikipedia article on Argumentum ad nauseam.
- Flaws in Reasoning and Arguments: Repetition