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Unfounded accusation followed by a false argument with an appeal to authority. Straw man set up and attacked with vengeance. Accused presented with a false dilemma wherein both choices benefit accuser. Accused's position generalized and shown to be unpopular.
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Authoritative sources shown by accuser to reference only each other on matters associated with the topic, and are dismissed as intellectual inbreeding. (Counterexamples are deftly ignored.) Accuser shifts attention away from his own fallacious arguments by pointing out minor inconsistencies and spelling errors in the accused's. Fun is poked. Observers laugh. Straw man is resurrected and attacked a second time. Accused position is re-cast as something orthogonal to the original generalization and again shown to be unpopular.
(loggrad98: A "meta-argument" is a description of an argument. We're not actually having one, just describing a fictional one. 'Tis a word game, which we writers are supposed to enjoy. It also makes you think at a more abstract level...but mostly, it's just fun.)
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As a defensive play, the Accused reveals incriminating evidence to the Authority, in the form of a discarded memo. Authoritative eyebrows raise and Accuser begins to perspire. Authority figure removes said memo from Accused and inquires to Accuser about validity of said memo.
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Pickled shuttlecok immediately phones for pizza. Pizza arrives, anchovies not withheld, pizza delivery boy found at bottom of stairs in suspicious circumstances. Police arrive, inspect pizza, agree pizza delivery boy got what he deserved, arrest Phanto instead for perverting the course of a meta-argument. Posts: 156 | Registered: Nov 2003
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Lies are told with straight-faced certainty or manufactured outrage, and repeated with such mind-numbing frequency that they are accepted as truth.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jun 2002
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A word, in this case "politics", is latched onto by inattentive thread reader who then assumes that the thread is about politics. Thread drift occurs. Attempts to steer discussion back to "meta arguments" will be ignored by reader, who will instead use every opportunity to wax philosophical about Dean's "Yeeeaarrrrgh!" moment.
And Dr. Pepper. (C'mon - you were expecting it.)
[This message has been edited by ccwbass (edited February 04, 2004).]
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