Mocking
Also: Inflammatory Remarks
Class: Emotional Manipulation
Class: Emotional Manipulation
Mocking, insulting, or sarcasm
instead of arguing reasons.
instead of arguing reasons.
This just makes disagreements worse,
like pouring gas on a fire.
For serious criticism see Personal Attack.
It’s 1920 and it’s time to give women the right to vote!
That’s as stupid as letting trees vote!
Um, do you want to have a real debate, or just pour gasoline on the fire?
We first put a man on the moon in 1969.
How could you actually believe that?!
The sun doesn’t go around the Earth. It’s the other way around.
Oh sure, I’m getting so dizzy from this spinning planet!
Sarcasm will get you nowhere.
Do you really expect me to believe that?
Do you have a point to make, or are you just trying to mock your way out of this debate?
Foolacy vs. Fallacy
Fallacies do not directly cover mocking, insults, or sarcasm. They might be partially covered by Argument by Emotive Language, Invincible Ignorance, Argument from Incredulity, or a very superficial Ad Hominem.
I believe this deserves its own foolacy because 1) this is like many fallacies, an appeal to emotion while refusing to give logical reasons, 2) this is very common starting at a young age in personal and political arguments, and 3) listeners are often misdirected by this inflammatory rhetoric.Mocking is usually directed toward the speaker, subconsciously to anger them and derail the debate. Personal Attack is more of a serious criticism about your opponent, who is not necessarily the speaker. Loaded Words is to put a spin on the topic, not necessarily the speaker.