Nonsense by Robert Gula

Thinking people wonder who’s listening to all the warped rhetoric coming from the far left media these days. Who’s persuaded? Rush Limbaugh says people are stupid.

Actually, the truth is that the media are very smart, and people are only slightly less smart. We just need to learn how the media is manipulating us.

The classic little book Nonsense by Robert Gula explains everything.

Mr. Gulia opens with the “Laws of Communication.” Every politician is well versed in these laws and uses these truisms to manipulate everybody (some more than others).

People:

(1) Believe what they want to believe, (2) project their own bias or prejudice on a situation, (3) generalize from a specific event, (4) get personally involved in the analysis of an issue to the point that their feelings overcome their objectivity, (5) hear selectively – i.e. what they want to hear, (6) are anxious to rationalize, (7) can’t distinguish what’s relevant and what’s not in an argument, (8) are easily DIVERTED from the issue at hand, (9) are unwilling to thoroughly explore the ramifications of any issue – i.e. we oversimplify, and (10) we judge from appearances.

To whit, we hear something, misinterpret it, and then we make terrible errors in judgment. You don’t have to live with this logical flaw in your basic human nature, and you don’t have to study engineering for four years to inoculate yourself with unwavering logic, either. You just need to learn what bad logic is…

Lawyers, politicians and pundits love “emotional language.” They use your emotions to deceive you, manipulate you and prey upon your better judgment. There are many variations on this theme. Children are expert in all of the emotional techniques. Somehow as adults we forget them all (thus, as parents, our kids use them effectively against us).

Some of the emotional techniques to distort logic are:

(1) Appeal to pity, compassion or brotherly love, (2) make a plea for special treatment, (3) appeal to guilt, fear, sincerity or hope, (3) use flattery (which confuses our positive feelings with what’s being said), (4) appeal to status, love, trust or friendship, (5) appeal to the bandwagon (“millions of people have already saved on reverse mortgages;” right, and robbed their progeny of an inheritance), (6) appeal to pride, loyalty or sincerity, and (7) appeal to the mob, the crowd or the gallery.

Thus, emotional logic is a slurry of generalities, cliches, slogans, platitudes, sanctimonious claptrap and glorification of the masses. The keys to the effective use of this sort of “emotional propaganda” are simple: (think “sermonizing”)

(1) Repetition, (2) confidence, (3) earnestness and sincerity, (4) oversimplification, (5) name calling, (6) stereotyping, (7) slogans, (8) testimonial, (9) plain folks (“I’m just like y’all.”), (10) snob appeal, (11) status without context, and (12) large numbers.

DIVERSION was constantly evident in the presidential debates. Some such techniques include:

(1) The red herring: sidetracking the discussion with something that’s irrelevant, (2) use of humor, sarcasm, ridicule, parody, bodily gestures (think Joe Biden) or innuendo, (3) witty remarks, (4) the petty objection, and (5) nit-picking. Obama did all these things to the extreme in the third debate, while failing to answer, with any substance, any of the questions posed.

The “Straw Man” technique takes something your opponent said, exaggerates it and then attacks what you have distorted and exaggerated. You do this by: (1) Extending your opponent’s ideas, (2) putting words into his mouth, (3) attacking the alternative, and/or (4) shifting focus to another problem.

These are all EXTREME abuses of logic (Mr. Gula details dozens more). They should offend you. They should trigger something in your head that says, “Uh-oh, this shyster is pulling the wool over my eyes!” Alarm bells should go off. Your hackles raised, you should immediately be on the defensive.

Not!

Modern man perceives the skillful use of these sly, deceptive and manipulative techniques not as evil but as supremely excellent. All the media – right, center and left – went ballistic in praise of Obama’s constant use of these methods in the debates. They gave all their “debate points” on their score cords to Obama. How skillful! Obama won by a landslide, especially the third debate. Kudos, even from conservatives…

We’re not talking rules of debate etiquette here, folks. We’re not talking fairness or common decency, either. We’re talking about the malicious abuse of basic logic and how ugly, ruthless, malicious people use the “Laws of Communication” and your basic human nature against you.

Spend $10 and buy this little book. Read it and study the examples the author gives. Free yourself from the miasma of the media and arm yourself against the abuse of logic – by car salesmen, Realtors, politicians – your own kids!