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A thought-terminating cliché
Cliché

A clich? or cliche is a saying, expression or idea which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning, especially when at some earlier time it was considered distinctively meaningful or novel, rendering it a stereotype....
 is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. The "ideas" or "cognitions" in question may include attitude and beliefs, and also the awareness of one's behavior....
. Though the phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissention or justifying fallacious logic
Fallacy

A fallacy is an argument which may convince some people but is not logically sound. Note that the truth of the conclusions of an argument does not determine whether the argument is a fallacy - it is the argument which is incorrect....
 is what makes it thought-terminating.

The term was popularized by Robert Jay Lifton
Robert Jay Lifton

Robert Jay Lifton is an United States psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform....
 in his book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China is a psychology non-fiction book on brainwashing and mind control, by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.....
. Lifton said, “The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché.






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A thought-terminating cliché
Cliché

A clich? or cliche is a saying, expression or idea which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning, especially when at some earlier time it was considered distinctively meaningful or novel, rendering it a stereotype....
 is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. The "ideas" or "cognitions" in question may include attitude and beliefs, and also the awareness of one's behavior....
. Though the phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissention or justifying fallacious logic
Fallacy

A fallacy is an argument which may convince some people but is not logically sound. Note that the truth of the conclusions of an argument does not determine whether the argument is a fallacy - it is the argument which is incorrect....
 is what makes it thought-terminating.

The term was popularized by Robert Jay Lifton
Robert Jay Lifton

Robert Jay Lifton is an United States psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform....
 in his book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China is a psychology non-fiction book on brainwashing and mind control, by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.....
. Lifton said, “The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis.”

In George Orwell
George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an England author. His work is marked by a profound consciousness of social injustice, an intense dislike of totalitarianism, and a passion for clarity in language....
’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic utopian and dystopian fiction by English author George Orwell. Published in 1949 in literature, it is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime....
, the fictional constructed language Newspeak
Newspeak

Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it is described as being "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year"....
 is designed to reduce language entirely to a set of thought-terminating clichés. Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. He spent the later part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death in 1963....
’s Brave New World
Brave New World

Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 in literature and published in 1932 in literature. Set in the London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society....
 society uses thought-terminating clichés in a more conventional manner, most notably in regard to the drug soma as well as modified versions of real-life platitudes, such as, “A doctor a day keeps the jim-jams away.”

Non-political examples

  • "Do as I say, not as I do."
  • "Why? Because I said so." (bare assertion fallacy
    Bare assertion fallacy

    The bare assertion fallacy is a fallacy in formal logic where a premise in an Argument is assumed to be Truth merely because it says that it is true....
    —also “I’m the parent, that’s why” appeal to authority
    Appeal to authority

    An appeal to authority or argument by authority is a type of Logical argument in logic. It bases the truth value of an assertion on the authority, knowledge, expertise, or position of the source asserting it....
    ).
  • "That’s a no-brainer."
  • "When you get to be my age..." (as in “When you get to be my age you’ll find that’s not true.”)
  • "You don’t always get what you want."
  • "What goes around comes around."
  • "The best defense is a good offense."
  • "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion." (appeal to ridicule
    Appeal to ridicule

    Appeal to ridicule, also called the Horse Laugh, is a logical fallacy which presents the opponent's argument in a way that appears ridiculous, often to the extent of creating a straw man of the actual argument....
    )
  • "It works in theory, but not in practice." (base rate fallacy
    Base rate fallacy

    The base rate fallacy, also called base rate neglect, is an error that occurs when the conditional probability of some hypothesis H given some evidence E is assessed without taking sufficient account of the "base rate" or "prior probability" of H....
    )
  • "There’s no silver bullet."
  • "Stupid is as stupid does."
  • "Easy come, easy go."
  • "Life is unfair."
  • "Such is life."
  • "It is what it is."
  • "It was his time."
  • "No you didn't!"
  • "Whatever."
  • "Yawn."
  • "Think about it."
  • "Just forget it."
  • "...so, you do the math."
  • "We will have to agree to disagree."
  • "I'm going to slap the taste out of your mouth."
  • "We all have to do things we don't like."
  • "You are not being a 'team player'." (ignoratio elenchi
    Ignoratio elenchi

    Ignoratio elenchi is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question....
    ).
  • "That's just wrong." or "You don't just do that."
  • "It takes all kinds to make a world."
  • "Just do it."
  • "That's a cliche."
  • "That's what s/he said."
  • "Don't be that guy."
  • "Touché!"
  • "Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."


Political examples


Thought-terminating clichés are sometimes used during political discourse to enhance appeal or to shut down debate. In this setting, their usage can usually be classified as a logical fallacy.

  • "That’s just a (liberal/conservative/libertarian/communitarian/etc.) argument." (association fallacy
    Association fallacy

    An association fallacy is an Inductive reasoning formal fallacy of the type hasty generalization or Ignoratio elenchi which asserts that qualities of one thing are inherently qualities of another, merely by an irrelevant association....
    ).
  • "Socialism or Barbarism
    Socialisme ou Barbarie

    Socialisme ou Barbarie was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period . It existed from 1948 until 1965....
    !" (false dichotomy)
  • "'Anarchist organisations', isn't that an oxymoron?" (equivocation
    Equivocation

    Equivocation is classified as both a Formal fallacy and informal fallacy. It is the misleading use of a term with more than one meaning .It is often confused with amphiboly; however, equivocation is ambiguity arising from the misleading use of a word and amphiboly is ambiguity arising from misleading use of punctuation or syntax....
    )
  • "If you are not with us, you are against us." (false dichotomy)
  • "Love it or leave it." (false dichotomy)
  • "Support our troops." (ignoratio elenchi
    Ignoratio elenchi

    Ignoratio elenchi is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question....
    ).
  • "...or the terrorists win." (false dichotomy).
  • "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." (false dichotomy)
  • "Better Dead than Red!" (false dichotomy)
  • "Better Red than Dead!"
  • "That's a conspiracy theory
    Conspiracy theory

    A conspiracy theory alleges a coordinated group is, or was, secretly working to commit illegal or wrongful actions, including attempting to hide the existence of the group and its activities....
    ."
  • "Freedom is not free."
  • "Live free or die."
  • "Fascist
    Fascist (epithet)

    The word fascist is sometimes used to denigrate people, institutions, or groups that would not describe themselves as Fascism, and that may not fall within the formal definition of the word....
     arguments need no comments." (weasel words)


Religious examples

Thought-terminating clichés are also present in religious discourse in order to define a clear border between good and evil, holiness and sacrilege, and other polar opposites. These are especially present in religious literature.

  • "God
    God

    God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
     has a plan and a purpose."
  • "Adam and Eve
    Adam and Eve

    Adam and Eve are the First man or woman created by God in the Hebrew creation story told in Genesis 1-2....
    , not Adam and Steve
    Adam and Steve

    "Adam and Steve" is a phrase that originated from a conservative Christian slogan "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve", intended to concisely summarize Judeo-Christian Bible-based arguments against gay sex and/or homosexuality....
    !"
  • "God works in mysterious ways."
  • "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away."
  • "Trust in the lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. "
  • "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. I shall repay."
  • "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."
  • "Whatever goes around comes around."
  • "Forgive and forget."
  • "That's not Biblical."
  • "If English was good enough for Jesus
    Jesus

    Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and the Incarnation ....
    , it's good enough for me!"


The religious or semi-religious ideas of cult
Cult

This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult . See Cult for more meanings of the term "cult"....
s, heretics
Heresy

Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief....
, and infidel
Infidel

Infidel is an archaic English language term designating a person who rejects some or all of the essential doctrines of one's own religion or rejects the existence of God - specifically a Muslim to a Christian, a Christian to a Muslim and a Gentile to a Jew It is also a general term used for unbelievers in respect to a particular religion....
s are also often used as thought-terminating clichés, i.e. "Do not listen to him, he is an infidel," (a guilt by association fallacy) or "That line of thought sounds like a cult" (also a guilt by association fallacy).

As a tautology
Tautology

Tautology may refer to:*Tautology , a statement of propositional logic which holds for all truth values of its atomic propositions*Tautology , use of redundant language...

The statement "That is a thought-terminating cliché" can in and of itself function as a thought-terminating cliché. Once the stator has identified a first statement as a thought-terminating cliché, they may feel absolved of needing to determine whether that first statement is indeed a thought-terminating cliché or whether it has actual merit.

See also


  • Indoctrination
    Indoctrination

    Indoctrination is the process of wikt:inculcate ideas, attitude , cognition or a professional methodology. It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critical thinking the doctrine they have learned....
  • Loaded language
    Loaded language

    Loaded language, also known as emotive language or high-inference language, is wikt:verbiage that attempts to influence the listener or reader by appealing to emotion....
  • Slogan
    Slogan

    A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commerce, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose....
  • Soundbite
    Soundbite

    Before the actual term "sound bite" had been coined, Mark Twain described the concept as "a minimum of sound to a maximum of sense." It is characterized by a short phrase or sentence that deftly captures the essence of what the speaker is trying to say....
  • Newspeak
    Newspeak

    Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it is described as being "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year"....
  • Godwin's law
    Godwin's Law

    File:Adolf Hitler-1933.jpgGodwin's Law is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."....