How sophists stop arguments with "terminator" language: a YouTube video you should watch
This is a brilliant video about the cliches Leftists throw at arguments, not to pursue truth, but to shut down disagreement as if the use of the terms themselves is definitive. “Trust the science” and “My body, my choice,” are two examples she gives, and we all know how “racist” and “Islamophobe” are used by woke types to automatically “end” an argument for controlled borders or crime enforcement.
Such is the essence of sophistry: “winning” arguments with popular, second-hand opinions that the sophist believes amount to some sort of moral absolute.
I disagree with the commentator that one should respond with reasoned inquiry, such as “How do you define your terms?” Sophists are innately irrational, and there is nothing more irrational than to attempt rational argument with the irrational. Check it out here:
She had me with the word 'label'. I have long noted and abhorred the penchant for the stupid and the cowardly to hide behind 'labels', which she also calls 'loaded language'.
I was pleased to hear her use the term 'labels' more and more in the second half. "Once that label is applied, the group is trained to stop listening ... Just a label that ends the debate". Yep. The sad thing is, many sycophants just accept the award of the label by their thought-leader and don't even attempt to question its application. That's why it works so well.
You say that sophists are "innately irrational" ... I think many of them are *cowards* more so than 'irrational' (or, if both, cowards first and foremost). They gratefully latch on to any label thrown out by a speaker and will hold on for all they are worth, using it as protection against any further need for thought. Over time they'll just accept the label as axiomatic truth. Pfah!