Hyperbole

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration to make a point. It is completely and utterly unlike any other rhetorical technique, the single most powerful way to communicate any concept ever conceived.

Cogito ergo sum
Logic and rhetoric
Key articles
General logic
Bad logic
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Fallacy

Hyperbolic fallacy (also known as "'inductive hyperbole") occurs when something is stated much more strongly than the observations behind it support.

Hyperbolic fallacy is common in science reporting. Science reporters try to make science interesting to the general public, and all too often do this by exaggerating the importance of certain findings, "hyping" them as "breakthroughs" that "entirely upset" our previous assumptions, etc.

In fact, it is in the nature of inductive sampling that no conclusion is guaranteed to be true. There is always a degree of uncertainty, and always a possibility that the entire study might prove wanting.

This constant emphasis on breakthroughs in science may prime some listeners to accepting more wild claims of pseudoscience — because if science can do it, why can't the nice man with a website find a cancer cure?

The "truthful hyperbole", which is an oxymoron, is according to Trump (or his pseudo-autobiographer[note 1]) never hurts (in real estate).[2] People who know Trump seem to think he doesn't understand the deference between the truth and a lie.[3]

Examples
  • Obama supports universal background checks on gun purchases. CommuNazi dictator!
  • "Many hospitals have had to raise their rates recently. Medical costs are sky-rocketing out of control!"
  • "These findings that modest alcohol consumption can be beneficial for the heart completely upset all our previous assumptions about the health effects of drinking."
gollark: Just generate data at random if you have enough free memory.
gollark: Do you have precise enough data for 652% to be at useful precision?
gollark: Obviously strings.
gollark: Plus really slow membership checks.
gollark: Sure, but it would be inefficient.

See also
  • And the super-duper winner is… Donald Trump
  • Fake precision

Notes
  1. Tony Schwartz[1]

References
  1. Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Tells All: The Art of the Deal made America see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth—and regrets it by Jane Mayer (July 25, 2016) The New Yorker.
  2. "I Call It Truthful Hyperbole": The Most Popular Quotes From Trump's "The Art of the Deal". The most-highlighted excerpts from Trump's book take on new meaning, given the way he ran his campaign—and is running America. by Emily Price (04.04.17) Fast Company.
  3. Chris Christie betrays Trump defenders’ remarkably dim view of the president’s intellect by Aaron Blake (April 2, 2018) The Washington Post.
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