Thread: Dead Cats and Sick Parrots

This from a political site in New Zealand, but I think it describes well the usual political discourse on forums and most social media, not to mention the Trump White House.

The strategy they are using is the dead cat strategy, jump up and down, say things that are palpably ridiculous, and hope everyone’s attention is diverted.


"There is one thing that is absolutely certain about throwing a dead cat on the dining room table – and I don’t mean that people will be outraged, alarmed, disgusted. That is true, but irrelevant. The key point, says my Australian friend, is that everyone will shout, ‘Jeez, mate, there’s a dead cat on the table!’ In other words, they will be talking about the dead cat – the thing you want them to talk about – and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief."
<snip>
"The dead cat is, in its essence, a bullshit argument: the user doesn’t care whether the argument is true, false, or even relevant to the argument. The objective is to get people arguing about the cat, and if someone accuses the cat-thrower of being disingenuous then the next move is to complain about personal abuse." https://thestandard.org.nz/john-keys-dead-cat-strategy/

Now for the sick parrots...

Sick parrots are more subtle than dead cats. Passers-by might not know that this is the fiftieth variation on the same bullshit this week, so can’t understand why the recipient is getting shirty. But the responses are limited:


a) let the bullshit lie – but then it sets like concrete and the bullshitter claims victory from the jaws of chronic boredom.
b) clean up each instance of bullshit, which is basically what the bullshitters want because their supply is practically eternal.
c) try to focus on the original point, or relate the sickness of the parrot to the original point while you give medical treatment. But it still just leaves the bullshitter able to throw another sick parrot onto the table.
d) Call the bullshitter out on why they have such a supply of sick parrots – but then the bullshitter who previously couldn’t manage basic math suddenly breaks out the thesaurus and complains about personal abuse.
https://thestandard.org.nz/musings-o...-sick-parrots/

Reasoned arguments are certainly enlightening, but bullshit is more entertaining (entertainment the primary reason anyone logs in).

We have a lot of that in the US with trump, that's why I no longer watch network news, every day the same thing , Big red graphics, "Breaking News , an other dead cat on the table" then bring out a panel of cat experts to talk about the latest cat, in the meantime our pockets are getting picked.
That's how Pickpockets work, they work in pairs, one bamps in you, and while your attention is on the one who bumped into you the other picks your pocket.
trump (in our case) is a flim flam man, get him out!! But all the others are just as bad, they are the enablers , it takes two to Tango .