Practical tools for clearer thinking and better conversations.
Somewhere along the line, we let our conversations get hijacked by the laziest, most destructive trick in the book: The False Dichotomy. The “either/or” trap. The “pick a team or you’re the enemy” frame. It sounds…
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If you’ve ever walked away from a political conversation thinking, “We didn’t even talk about the issue,” there’s a good chance you just ran into one of the most common moves on the internet: the ad…
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(How we turn real people into cartoons, then “win” arguments against the cartoon.) If you’ve ever said something like: “I’m concerned about the method, not the goal,” …and someone replied: “So you want open borders /…
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(“But what about…?”: the deflection move that turns every conversation into mush) If you’ve ever tried to talk about ONE specific issue and the reply is instantly: “But what about (your side / their side /…
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(“They all…”: the shortcut that turns disagreement into dehumanization.) If you want to watch a conversation collapse in real time, listen for this move: “They ALL do that.” “That’s what THEY are.” “Every one of them…
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(“You proved it… so now the standard changes.”) If you’ve ever felt like an argument is a treadmill (where you keep providing answers, links, data, examples, and context, but the “win condition” keeps shifting), there’s a…
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(“I don’t believe facts. I believe my team.”) If you’ve ever watched two people see the same video, read the same document, and walk away more convinced than ever that the OTHER person is insane, welcome…
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There’s a moment a lot of us are living through right now that feels uniquely hopeless: You’re talking about a policy, a video, a protest, or a tragedy. You’re trying to stay anchored to facts and…
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If you’ve ever walked away from an online argument feeling like you just got hit by a dump truck of talking points, you’ve met this tactic: The Gish Gallop = a rapid flood of weak, misleading…
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Here’s a logic trick that is everywhere online right now, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it: The Motte-and-Bailey Fallacy. It’s when someone makes a bold, provocative claim (the bailey), then, when challenged, retreats…
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One of the most common ways people “win” arguments online isn’t by making a strong case. It’s by asking a question that smuggles in an accusation, so if you answer it, you’ve already accepted their framing.…
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Here’s the quiet cognitive glitch that is doing more damage to relationships, politics, and even basic reality-testing than almost any other: Confirmation bias. It’s the tendency to notice, believe, remember, and share information that supports what…
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There’s a psychological phenomenon that is quietly wrecking our ability to talk to each other right now, even when we’re all staring at the same facts. It’s called cognitive dissonance. And once you understand it, you’ll…
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Two things can look alike in one respect and differ in the respect that decides the question. Check what the comparison actually proves.
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An event is not its own explanation. A causal claim needs evidence connecting the proposed cause to the outcome.
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A possibility can justify a question without justifying a verdict. Match the strength of the conclusion to the evidence.
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A selection can contain true facts and still leave out the evidence needed to judge the conclusion.
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