The Ideologue’s Playbook

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Do you find yourself in discussions where you face inconvenient arguments that challenge the worldview that offers you so much comfort? Do not worry — you can easily manage the situation through one or more of the following strategies:

• Instead of responding to the argument, criticise the person making it, preferably by assigning some predetermined and pejorative label to them so that you can assert a generalisation like “People like you always…….”
• Shift the discussion to another topic that is either irrelevant or not central to the argument you are faced with. To do this, it is often useful to introduce a question that begins, “What about……..?”
• Dismiss any evidence offered as fake news, biased source, intent to destabilise our country, agent of foreign hand, selective picking of data, etc. After that, put forward generalisations on your worldview (you do not need to offer any evidence here).
• Insert a conspiracy theory into the discussion. This can be an invented conspiracy unsupported by any evidence and should ideally posit a dangerous other who should be kept out of our polity.
• Adopt the role of belonging to a historically victimised group that is unwilling to be victimised anymore (here too, no evidence need be offered).
• Cite a person you declare as authoritative. Avoid reputed scholars, intellectuals, or activists whose minds and opinions can be trusted for they are backed by years of incisive research, analysis, and practice. It is only necessary that the man you cite (citing males is preferable) projects some semblance of authority through having wangled his way into public attention.
• Propose a golden era that has been lost and must be restored (again, evidence unnecessary).
• Respond with frustration, fear, or anger, never with calm or curiosity.
• Repeat what you have to say on multiple social media channels so that like-minded persons will forward it, causing the same assertion to appear in people’s attention many times and from many directions and therefore appear true.
• Keep repeating one of the above strategies until the other side gets tired. They are likely to tire first as you are not burdened with any obligation to connect one point to another.

Whatever you do, DO NOT do any of the following:

• Respond directly to the argument being made.
• Show any willingness to listen.
• Demonstrate empathy in any form.
• Grant consideration to any rigorous, trustworthy, and dispassionate data source — your goal should be to eliminate any consideration of evidence from the discussion.
• Follow a logical chain of reasoning.
• Admit any nuance into the discussion — all issues should only be framed in black-and-white generalisations.