(For the sake of getting the full gist of my articles, I ask that you do briefly visit/skim linked content— when provided, it should highlight the points.)
Conspiracy Theory: a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators.
So today, I want to talk about Thought-Terminating Clichés. Many of you may not be aware of what those are, whereas you likely had an idea at least of what “Conspiracy Theorist” meant before you clicked the link here. I am likely to teach you that your definition, or rather the way you think when someone uses that term, needs to be adjusted quite hastily.
A Thought-Terminating Cliché is a form of ‘loaded language’ that is designed essentially to stop dissenting thought/opinion. Genuinely the purpose is to stop the discussion from developing further, usually for fear of what may be uncovered should those developments take place. This is not some made up idea, and in fact was first discussed in 1961 regarding ‘loaded language’ used by the Chinese Communist Party. A quick Wiki on this subject will bring you this information, but I’m just gathering the puzzle pieces at this point so bare with me as I list a few examples of Thought-Terminating Cliché or ‘loaded language’.
Support Our Troops
That’s just YOUR opinion
It’s all good
You’re talking like a Conspiracy Theorist
Now obviously if you’re keen of eye, that last one sticks out like a sore thumb because it’s the point of this article. I’m going to reverse engineer each of these in order as to show why they are falling into this strange category of communication.
Support Our Troops is a cliché that if you are against going to war in foreign lands like The Middle East that you must somehow not be supportive of the people that fight to protect us. The truth is much more disturbing. The truth is our own government is often times leaving veterans behind with services from the VA extremely lacking. According to the recent Jon Stewart return, they’ve been spending nights next to burn pits that destroy their lungs much the same way the first responders at the World Trade Center had their lungs destroyed in the days following 9/11. But because you would rather the military focus on protection of our own nation rather than having forces abroad, you must not be in support of our armed services. The better way to Support Our Troops is what Jon Stewart is doing in advocating for Veterans that are being wronged by the system that uses propaganda to convince the public that our own government is prescribing to their own rhetoric.
That’s just Your Opinion with an emphasis on YOUR. It means to state that no opinion can be held in higher regard than another, no matter how popular of unanimously agreed upon by the public at large. The statement is the very definition as it is meant to completely stop discussion about whatever topic is at hand. It is likely causing too much emotion on the part of the responding party, thus the attempt to cease further Thought on the matter.
It’s all good. How many times have you said that to a friend who has screwed up or disregarded your time/efforts/energy? And why do you say that to your friend? Because if they are genuinely concerned about having upset, offended or somehow put you off, you’d like to alleviate them of some of that guilt they’re feeling. You are literally terminating the guilt thoughts with a CLICHE.
So finally, and perhaps most importantly, do we arrive at You’re talking like a Conspiracy Theorist. Because historically speaking, this cliché has perhaps been the most damaging to the history of humankind. A very brief list of Conspiracy Theories that were later proven with hard evidence to be veritably true:
CIA gives mind-altering drugs including LSD to test subjects during Project MK Ultra when studying mind control.
AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) is one of the few unearthed UFO study programs revealed with the recent declassifications.
Bohemian Grove is an annual party where the world’s most elite gather in a Palace in the European woods.
Contaminated polio vaccines caused a Cancer to spread in humans and wasn’t discovered until five years after injections had begun being given. Injected in 55-100 million children between the late 50s and early 60s.
If you are reading any of these and were previously unaware then you can still see where some of these ideas upon first glance seem absolutely unbelievable. And because they seem unbelievable, it is easy to use a Thought-Terminating Cliche like Conspiracy Theory to dismiss any of these stories should they come up in conversation. Instead of discussing the lies told to us from the CIA about programs they may or may not have run, we move on because of a ridiculous pattern that prevents CRITICAL THOUGHT.
So— I am just asking you as a reader to disallow that itch to disengage from topics because people you otherwise care about or respect might use this form of disparaging language. It has never become more imperative for each of us to take the initiative to keep critical thinking alive in an era of Disinformation and echo chambers. Donald Trump was our President for the past four years and he told many lies, but it became uncomfortable for me that rate at which we began to dismiss anything he said because he had lied. If you came from that stance as a baseline, like many sane Americans did late in his term, it would be difficult to blame you for doing so but still to do so requires suspending your own critical thinking.
Trump claimed that there was a potential that a lab in Wuhan engaged in Virus-enhancing techniques that may have been responsible for the initial outbreak of COVID-19. Claims that the meddling caused the COVID-19 variant, which only became a reality because the viral load was magnified upwards of 10x. Because it was said by Trump, everyone shut down the ability to critical think because Trump was all about actual conspiracies such as Q-Anon. Due to this unfortunate reality, it was increasingly easy to associate any idea or theory touted by President Trump as the next made up lie.
And this was a 'Conspiracy Theory' just 15 short months ago.
So perception colors everything. Right now, some of you are undoubtedly thinking: This man is defending Trump, he is a conservative nut-job terrorist who likely assaulted the Capitol building in January! When that is patently false. Some of you are thinking lots of conflated ideas here that don’t all necessarily line up when you may be not be catching the passes I’m tossing here. This isn’t about Aliens/Vaccines/Wealthy Parties in the Woods or how any of those things intersect.
This is about Critical Thought and how important it is to be aware of loaded language and thought-terminating cliché. Anybody in this world who hopes to stop your mind from working has an agenda and generally speaking the agendas are ill-intended for you.