Rhetoric & Bullshit
This term refers to using language to persuade or influence an audience.
What is rhetoric?
This rhetorical appeal focuses on credibility and trustworthiness.
What is ethos?
This theory identifies where an argument gets “stuck.”
What is stasis theory?
False information that is NOT intentionally misleading.
What is misinformation?
Gaps in search results that allow misinformation to spread.
What are data voids?
This type of communication is indifferent to truth and focuses on persuasion or appearance.
What is bullshit?
This branch of rhetoric focuses on the future and policy decisions.
What is deliberative rhetoric?
This stasis asks: “Did it happen?”
What is conjecture?
False information that IS intentionally misleading.
What is disinformation?
This economic system prioritizes attention over accuracy.
What is the attention economy?
This triangle includes rhetor, message, and audience.
What is the rhetorical triangle?
This type of rhetoric creates group identity through language.
What is constitutive rhetoric?
This concept describes presenting unequal sides as equally valid.
What is false balance?
This Aristotelian concept refers to practical wisdom or common sense.
What is phronesis?
This term describes adopting identities online that are not your own.
What is identity tourism?
This type of bullshit is intentional deception.
What is hard bullshit?
These are the five steps used to build effective arguments (invention, arrangement, etc.).
What are the canons of rhetoric?
This term refers to artificially creating doubt around an issue.
What is manufactured controversy?
This concept describes widely accepted beliefs or “shared truths.”
What is endoxa?
This term describes platforms declining as they prioritize profit over users.
What is enshittification?
This concept describes creating an “us vs them” dynamic and blaming out-groups.
What is demagoguery?
These are “commonplaces” or sources from which arguments are built.
What are topoi?
This Greek concept involves arguing both sides of an issue as valid.
What is dissoi logoi?
This type of argument has a missing premise filled in by the audience.
What is an enthymeme?
This is when platforms act as middlemen controlling information flow.
What is intermediation?