Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
Let’s start off with a quick review of a fallacy we covered earlier this season, The Burden of Proof Fallacy. Ok, do you wanna hit pause real quick and see if you can remember what the Burden of Proof fallacy is? Burden of Proof simply means the person who is responsible for proving a claim. So, the Burden of Proof fallacy happens when the responsibility to prove a claim is put on the wrong person. Typically, the burden of proof belongs to the person making the claim, so it’s wrong to make a claim and expect someone else to prove it’s wrong.
For this fallacy, rather than a question, I’m going to give you a statement you can use when someone is committing the Burden of Proof Fallacy and it’s this: “You’re the one making the claim, you’re the one responsible to prove it.”
If you want to review or hear more about this fallacy, go back & check out Episode 139.
Today’s episode is brought to you by my membership, Crazy Thinkers, where you will learn the SKILLS to be able to think well about anything! It includes Brain Cell University, which is a 10-week digital course that teaches you the skills of thinking in short video episodes, and it also helps you MASTER the top 30 fallacies we cover here in the podcast. You’ll also get Brain Gym, which is a monthly pdf I create that includes real-life content for you to use to have great conversations with your middle or high schooler. It’s not enough to just hear about the fallacies here on the podcast…to truly develop discernment, you need to practice them and I make it super easy to do just that with this resource! To learn more, go to filteritthroughabraincell.com/crazy. I’d love to have you join!
Alright, today we’re wrapping up the Propaganda Tactics miniseries! Let's dive into today’s new fallacy, the Self-Refuting Statement. A Self-Refuting Statement happens when someone says something that contradicts itself. It's when someone tries to persuade you with a message, but the message itself doesn't make sense or is inconsistent.
For example, if someone tells you, "Don't believe anything I say," it's a self-refuting statement. If you shouldn't believe anything they say, then you shouldn't believe them when they say, "Don't believe anything I say." It's a message that doesn't hold up because it contradicts itself.
Here’s another example: If someone were to say: "Everyone says this product is terrible, but you should definitely buy it because it's the best thing ever!" In this statement, the person is trying to convince you to buy a product, but they start by saying "everyone says this product is terrible." It contradicts their own message because they're acknowledging that most people think the product is bad. This is a self-refuting statement because it undermines the very message they are trying to convey, making it not very convincing or logical.
The problem behind the Self-Refuting Statement is that it’s meant to be tricky. When you come across self-refuting propaganda, it's important to be critical and question the message. It's a way for people to use tricky language to try to persuade you, even when their message doesn't make logical sense. In other words, they are trying to convince you of something while also undermining their own message at the same time. It's important to be aware of such contradictions when evaluating information and arguments. A self-refuting statement is nonsense, being an empty statement that says nothing meaningful.
Here are some other examples of self-refuting statements that are commonly heard in society today. I recommend you hit pause after each one and see if you can identify what makes it a self-refuting statement;
1. I can’t talk to you right now.
2. There is no objective truth.
3. Truth cannot be known.
4. If objective truth does exist, no one could ever know with confidence what it is.
5. All truth is relative.
6. Never say never.
Question to ask yourself if you think someone just committed a Self-Refuting Statement: “Did they just contradict themself?” *repeat*
Alright, that’s it for today…oh, and for those of you who are listening in real time, just know that I’ll be taking a little break off the podcast over the holidays and will be back after the new year. If you’re not listening in real time when this episode is getting released, don’t worry about it! Alright, that’s it for today…
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
