Monday, October 1, 2012

The Poison Pill - how to stifle dissent without the use of logic and a complete absence of facts

So you are in a debate with someone. Maybe they are a little smarter than you. Maybe they are just better prepared. You are losing the debate. It's time to give them the poison pill. The contents of the pill vary, depending on the debate topic and the political/social norm for the time period.

It is the 1950's and someone is arguing against censorship, stronger government control, and for unions and worker rights. They have good arguments, what do you do? Reply: "you're a communist". You can even put it to them in the form of a question, "are you a communist". You have introduced a new paradigm; instead of debating the facts back and forth, now you have forced your opponent into trying to prove he is not a communist. Game over, you've short circuited all his arguments, forced him on the defensive and made him look like a social pariah.

Of course such an accusation would be laughed at now, but the concept of the poison pill is still as effective as ever. Lets update the debate topic. The subject is now affirmative action. The opposition is hitting you hard about how certain aspects of it are unfair and have not worked. You could argue back with counter points but why bother? It's time for the poison pill and it's a beaut. "You're a racist" That's it. One word. By hanging the moniker "racist" on your opponent you have stuffed him/her into a box that they will have to spend the rest of the debate struggling to escape from.

The poison pill is also an excellent tactic for governments/corporations wishing to hide unscrupulous and/or immoral activities. All a corporation or government has to do to dismiss accusations of underhanded activity is to label the accusation as a "conspiracy theory". Anyone engaging in "conspiracy theory" is usually looked upon as a nutter so the poison pill in this case can put a damper on public interest in the story, or at least cast doubt on the accusations legitimacy.

Are you a violent asshole who likes to punch people? Now the poison pill works for you too! Just label them a "nazi" and you go from thug to hero.

I don't have a good answer to the poison pill tactic, I wish I did. I think more public skepticism is in order. Just because someone in a political party or group that you agree with accuses someone else of being a [insert pejorative here] does NOT make it true, and if they are using it to either shut down debate or assault someone then you REALLY need to take the accusation with a grain of salt.