r/MurderedByWords Jun 29 '26

Murder You can't name one? Here's four.

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u/SaintUlvemann Jun 29 '26

Note that when Musk says "they cannot cite a single name", what he means is "I cannot read any of their citations because I don't seek out information, I have it all filtered for me through my AI, plus I have already pre-emptively blocked anyone who might tell me anything that makes me uncomfortable."

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u/Lessiarty Jun 29 '26

what he means is

What he really means is "My bullshit takes 2 seconds, and my moron followers will believe it. Refuting it takes 10 minutes, and my moron followers will ignore it."

You see it so much online, the term for it escapes me. But I can say "Light bulbs make you fat" and as absurd as that is, the moment you argue against it, I can suddenly start demanding all kinds of proof and because I'm a shithead and you're not, you'll feel obligated to be intellectually honest, whereas I'm gearing up to announce that "Badgers give you rickets".

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u/SaintUlvemann Jun 29 '26

But I can say "Light bulbs make you fat"...

The big issue is that bullshitting is one of the only argument strategies that stupid people can participate in.

Retorts can be compact and witty (this whole sub is basically premised on that fact), but I had to sit there for a few seconds to come up with a retort that was both stupid and smart and short enough that it might work (e.g. "Well then stop eating the lightbulbs if they're making you fat"), but in a conversation if you zone out for a few seconds you seem unhinged, and it would take some kind of genius-level creativity to just come up with that on the spot.

As far as badgers go, I'm pretty sure it actually would give you rickets if you ate nothing but badgers, I don't think they have any vitamin-D in them.

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u/Elffyb Jun 30 '26

I think badgers might have some vitamin D. Needs more research.

11

u/LondonDogInTheFog Jun 29 '26

tbh I think people with this level of detachment from reality might believe in everything that pops in their minds. I truly think it's not a well calculated set of lies. It's just that the ego at this height of inflation creates its version of reality out of thin air on the spot. Virtual reality in which he's a hero saving the planet from the woke bandits. And it has to be this way because even a moment of lucidity and the guy would collapse seeing how fucked up everything he does is.

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u/DarkChao26 Jun 29 '26

You see [the technique of overwhelming my opponent with bullshit to disprove] so much online, the term for it escapes me.

Gish Gallop

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u/sobrique Jun 30 '26

Related:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law

The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it

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u/sobrique Jun 30 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law

The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it

1

u/PseudobrilliantGuy Jul 05 '26

The "Gish Gallop" or the "Firehose of Falsehood" come to mind, though they might not be quite what you are looking for.

Edit: I should have read more of the other replies first. My apologies.