Dirty trick #2 Accuse him/her of sliding down a slippery slope (that leads to disaster). The manipulator uses the slippery slope trick when a person implies that if someone does one thing (A), it inevitably will lead to a domino effect of negative things that, in the end, will resu.t in something terrible: A is not so bad, but A leads to B, and B leads to C, and C is horrible! Imagine a mother lecturing her teenage daughter: “Okay, maybe there’s nothing wrong with a kiss, but remember when kissing leads and where that leads and where that leads. Before you know it, you’ll be the mother of an unwanted baby! Your young life will be ruined forever!” Manipulators who use the slipperyslope argument conveniently forget that many people walk carefully on slippery ground and don’t fall down. Dirty trick #4 Appeal to experience. Skilled manipulators, con artists, and politicians often imply that they have “experience” to back them up, even when their experiences are limited or nonexistent. They know it is much harder for someone to deny what they say if they speak with the voice of experience. Of course, they sometimes will come up against an opponent who has more experience than they do. In that case, they attack their opponent’s experience-as not representative, as biased, as limited, as distorted, or as subjective. Dirty trick #5 Appeal to fear. Deep down, most people have a lot fo fears-fear of death, disease, loss of love, loss of attractiveness, loss of youth, loss of income, loss of security, rejection by others. Unprincipled manipulators know that people tend to react primitively when any of these fears are activated. Thus, they represent themselves as having the ability to protect people against these threats (even when they can’t). You should distrust authorities who say that certain groups (or people) are inherently dangers: “Remember, these people are threatening our freedom, our way of life, our homes, our property.” Politicians often use this strategy quite effectively to make sure people line up behind governmental authority and do what the government—that is, what politicians—want. Dirty trick #10 Attack the person (and not the argument). When the opponent makes reasonable arguments, manipulators ignore those arguments and instead find a way to attack the reasoned personally. Namecalling (even mudslinging) often works (depending on how you do it). Spin artists know what a given audience will reject and insinuate that their opponent supports those terrible things. For example, the opponent might be labeled a communist or an atheist. Or it might be said of her that she supports terrorism or is soft on crime. This strategy is sometimes called “poisoning the well.” It leads to the audience dismissing an opponent in a sweeping way—no matter what the opponent says in his defense. Of course, spin artists know the importance of reading the audience correctly to make sure they don’t go too far. They realize that the more subtle they can be, the more effective their manipulation will be. Dirty trick #12 Call for perfection (demand impossible). The opponent wants the manipulator to agree to X, and the manipulator realizes he can’t argue against X without losing credit in the eyes of the audience. Fine— agrees to X, but only under the following conditions: “yes, we do want a democracy, but only when we can have a true democracy, and that means this and that, and that will have to be changed before we consider it.” By making a maneuver of this kind, the manipulator diverts those who hear it so they do not discover that the manipulator has no intention whatsoever of allowing X to take place. Dirty trick #18 Deny or defend inconsistencies. Manipulators know that a person looks bad when appearing to be inconsistent, saying one thing and doing another or, sometimes, supporting X and sometimes attacking it. When caught in a contradiction, the manipulator has two choices. She can either deny that there is any contradiction at all (“I didn’t really say that!”), or she can admit the contradiction and defend it as a justifiable change (“The world is changing and we must change with it”). Human life and society are shot through with contradictions and inconsistencies. Those who have the most integrity are the ones who admit to contradictions and inconsistencies and work to minimize them. Manipulators work hard to cover them up. Dirty trick #22 Hedge what you say. Manipulators often hide behind words, refusing to commit themselves or give direct answers. This allows them to retreat if necessary. If caught leaving out important information, they then can come up with some excuse for not being forthcoming in the first place. Or, if questioned closely, they can qualify their position so no one can prove them wrong. When pressed, they hedge. Effective manipulators must be effective weasels. They must weasel out of their mistakes, cover up their errors, and guard what they say whenever possible. Dirty trick #23 Ignore the evidence. To avoid considering evidence that might require them to change their position, manipulators often ignore evidence. Usually, they ignore the evidence to avoid having to consider it in their own minds because it threatens their belief system or vested interests. Imagine a close-minded Christian questioning whether it is possible for an atheist to live an ethical life (lacking the guidance of the Bible). If such a person were confronted with examples of atheists who have lived self-sacrificing, compassionate lives, she would be uncomfortable in her view. She probably would find a way to put the subject out of her mind to avoid the implications of the evidence. Dirty trick #24 Ignore the main point. Manipulators know that if they can’t win a point, they should divert their audience from that point and focus on another point-a point not relevant to the original issue. Those skilled in doing this know how to do it so their audience doesn’t notice the shift. Dirty trick #28 Make sweeping, glittering generalizations. Manipulators, con artists, spinmasters, and politicians will use any generalizations that support their case and that their audience will accept, regardless of whether they have sufficient evidence to support those generalizations. They make positive generalizations that people will readily support-generalizations, for example, about “our” or “their” devotion to God, country, patriotism, family, and free enterprise. Their generalizations are chose deliberately to coincide with the thinking of their audience. Of course, these manipulators keep their generalizations vague so they can weasel out of them if necessary. Dirty trick #29 Make much of any inconsistencies in your opponent’s position. There is inconsistency in the best of us. We all sometimes fail to practice what we preach. Everyone sometimes falls into a double standard. Manipulators exploit any inconsistencies they can find in their opponents’ arguments. They are quick to make the charge of hypocrisy, even when they are guilty of flagrant, deep, and multiple forms of hypocrisy themselves, hypocrisy that bothers them not at all. Dirty trick #30 Make your opponent look ridiculous (“lost in the laugh”). Manipulators look for ways to make their opponents, or their positions, look ridiculous (and therefore funny). People like a good laugh, and they especially like laughing at views that seem threatening. A good joke is usually well received because it relieves audience members of the responsibility to think seriously about what is making them uncomfortable. Manipulators measure their audience to make sure that their jokes do not sound like sour grapes. Dirty trick #34 Seek your vested interests. Manipulators attack their opponents’ motivations but insist that their own motives are pure. They cover their true motives (i.e., whatever is in their vested interest) by expressing high ideals (freedom, democracy, justice, the American way, which in reality they ignore). When manipulators are seeking their advantage and their opponents call them on it, manipulators either deny the charge (usually indignantly) or counterattack by saying that everyone has a right to protect their interests. If pressed further, they may use a “you-do-it-too” defense. Dirty trick #43 Throw in some statistics. People are impressed by numbers, especially precise numbers. So whenever they can, manipulators quote statistics in their favor, even if the source is questionable. Their audience is usually impressed: “By the way, did you know that 78% of the students who read this guide raise their grade point average by 1.33 grade levels within two semesters? It’s even higher at your school!” Dirty trick #44 Use double standards (whenever you can). Manipulators often use double standards-one standard for us, another standard for them. We can’t abide countries developing nuclear weapons (except for us and all our friends). We condemn aggression (except when we are the aggressors). We can’t tolerate torture and human rights violations by our enemies (although, alas, sometimes we are forced to do these things ourselves). Unit VIII Assignment Table of Dirty Tricks Name: Name and Number of Dirty Trick Accuse him/her of sliding down a slippery slope (that leads to disaster). Dirty #2 Appeal to experience. Dirty Trick #4 Appeal to fear. Dirty Trick #5 Attack the person (and not the argument). Dirty Trick #10 Call for perfection (demand impossible). Dirty Trick # 12 Deny or defend inconsistencies. #18 Hedge what you say. Dirty Trick # 22 Ignore the evidence. Dirty Trick #23 Ignore the main point. Dirty Trick #24 Make sweeping, glittering generalizations. Dirty Trick #28 Make much of any inconsistencies in your opponent’s position. Dirty Trick #29 Make your opponent look ridiculous (“lost in the laugh”). Dirty Trick #30 Seek your vested interests. Dirty Trick #34 Decision-making Leading to Use How You Would Detect the Trick How You Might Counter the Trick Throw in some statistics. Dirty Trick #43 Use double standards (whenever you can). Dirty Trick #44 
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