Folks, there are a small number of phrases which I look for in postings and comments on the internet as part of my process of trying to determine whether I ought to take the posting or comment seriously.
Apart from juvenile nonsense like “libtard” and “drumpf”, I look for accusations based on strawman stereotypes (“you libs” being a classic example).
I also tend to discount people complaining about tone and style instead of substance. If they want to complain that I hurt their feelings, they need to have a damn good reason that shows I was unnecessarily unpleasant to them, or I am going to wave that off. There is a term for it in discussion forums. It’s called tone trolling.
However, there are some words and phrases that are certain to trigger my bullshit detector and give me a powerful incentive to discount the words I read.
Here is my current list of words and phrases.
Political Correctness
Absent a clear definition for this in the context of the posting or comment, it’s a slogan that has no clear meaning. I will also observe that a significant percentage of the people complaining about “political correctness” usually proceed to write like juvenile jerks.
Fake News
This is a term which usually means “anything I read on the Internet that I don’t like or agree with”. It’s use shows laziness in thinking and argument.
Snowflake
This is used most of the time by people engaging in weapons-grade projection.
