Rhetorical deception

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About

A rhetorical deception is any particular technique used in speech or writing to persuade someone of an opinion based on unsound reasoning, i.e. to promote false beliefs. (LessWrong refers to these uses as "the dark arts".)

Rhetorical deceptions typically play on people's innate cognitive biases (see: List of cognitive biases).

Rhetorical deceptions are heavily used in advertising, both commercial and political.

Related

• There are some valid uses for rhetorical deception, but only as a supplement.
• The rhetorical deceptions category is a catalogue of pages about specific types of rhetorical deception.
• Logical fallacies are frequently used as rhetorical deceptions.

Links

Reference

standard

• Wikipedia
• Conservapedia
• dKosopedia: closest page is Religious Political Rhetoric (as of 2009-06-18)
• LessWrong Wiki (Dark arts)
• RationalWiki (Rhetoric)
  • The Fine Art of Baloney Detection
• SourceWatch
• Wiktionary
• Merriam-Webster

additional

• The Woolly-Thinker's Guide to Rhetoric: a list of common techniques
• Rhetological Fallacies: an infographic
• Twenty-Five Rules of Disinformation "has been floating on the Net since the late '90s at least..."
• Bubba Business Primer: some more aggressive techniques for real-time verbal debate (effective over the phone or in person)

Humor

• 2009-05-28 Oh, No! It's Making Well-Reasoned Arguments Backed With Facts! Run!