"The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché."

"The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché." ( en.wikipedia.org )

submitted 2016-03-14T01:12 by ElspethTirel

4 comments

dildonkers 2016-03-14T02:14

RACIST

BIGOT

FASCIST

NAZI

I CAN'T EVEN

IT'S CURRENT YEAR, C'MON

link

Tree_Snake 2016-03-16T04:04

It is what it is, man. That's just, like, your oppinion. Haters gonna hate.

link

ElspethTirel 2016-03-14T01:13

In his 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton introduced the term "thought-terminating cliché". This refers to a cliché that is a commonly used phrase, or folk wisdom, sometimes used to quell cognitive dissonance. Though the clichéd phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissent or justifying fallacious logic is what makes it thought-terminating.

Lifton wrote:

"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."

link

pitenius 2016-03-14T01:57

You certainly fingered the exciting quote! It become a little more terrifying if you've lived in China. People are unduly fond of stupid, meaningless proverbs. They believe that "education" consists of knowing "when" to use these "timeless" truths. And then you can see the conclusion: an entire culture stripped of the tools of analysis.

link