Monday, May 21, 2012

The "you know nothing" tactic and "I dare you" tactic

MLMers who ran out of coherent and logical arguments will often fall back to the "you know nothing" tactic. Usually, it goes like this.

A: BizX is very likely a scam because of _____, ______, and _____.
B: You know nothing / know very little / are wrong about BizX. 
There's a variant I call "I dare you" tactic:
A: BizX is very likely a scam because of _____, ______, and _____.
B: I dare you to join and learn the "truth". 
Both replies are completely irrelevant. Instead of counter the premise with their own evidence, or to defeat the logic presented, the opponent basically issues a personal opinion, the latter was a 'dare'.


Here's an actual example posted on one of my hubs (comment source):
cj wrote: the best thing you can do is tojoin TVI and experience if it's really a scam... There could be some problems encountered by other members and I think it's very normal for any company... All problems can be resolved.. then talk to the owner what can you contribute to the company to make TVI the best network marketing company ever... 
There was no refutation of the facts and logic presented (that TVI Express is a scam). There was only some IMPLICATIONS that "you don't know the whole story". As cj did not present any arguments, such as elaborate on this "whole story", it's an automatic FAIL. It is the equivalent of "so what? join any way!"

This "I dare you" tactic is not new, and was often used by people trying to "defend" a topic against skeptics. In an episode of Skeptoid, a wheatgrass proponent "dared" the host to try wheatgrass for a month. The "I dare you" technique appeals to "reciprocity", which is one of the compliance techniques we had discussed earlier. Indeed, in the Skeptoid episode, the wheatgrass proponent offered to try wheatgrass for a month alongside the skeptic / host.

These are pretty easy to spot as their response is not backed up by facts or logic.
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