Semantic Stop Signs - Do you use them?

[Consept]

Just came across this term in a book i was listening to, semantic stop sign (or thought terminating cliche) basically a cliche phrase that is used to halt the conversation from going further because the person using doesnt want to think further as it might question their held beliefs, some say its a way to ease the cognitive dissonance theyre feeling through the conversation. An example could be 'thats just your opinion' falsely equating all opinions as the same or 'you think too much'. These phrases can be used in a valid way of course so it only qualifies as thought-terminating if its used to dismiss dissent or justify fallacious logic. 

Its one of those things that I see all the time on social media and even on this site so its interesting that theres a name for it. We probably all do it but its good to be aware of it. My favourites are 'orange man bad', 'media/statistics cant be trusted', 'baa sheeple' 

Which ones have you guys come across and what do you think of the phenomena?

[PepperBlossoms]

-"You might think I am crazy but you just have to have faith"

-"You are overthinking it."  "You should be a philosopher."  "You have lots to say."

-Changes the subject to something else; picks on the person

-Stays quiet and doesn't say anything; does not text back

-"I better get going" and leaves the room

-"You need to see a psychiatrist and get on medication".

-"That is how it is."  "That is just the way things are."

-"You can't say/do that." Tries to appeal to what is considered social norms.

-"But what else could describe it other than God?"

I get upset when I see that the person is not understanding the fascinating direction that the conversation could go in.  It is kinda sad when the subject is changed to something like football or deflecting to attack someone's personality or the person starts talking about politics instead or whatever.  I am guilty of having not said anything or left the room before but I also was not putting in enough effort to understand everything and taking enough responsibility to communicate that I did not understand.  It is kinda funny when they say that I am overthinking everything and I instead think that they are underthinking.

Edited November 5, 2021 by PepperBlossoms

[PepperBlossoms]

"I don't want to talk about it."  "Mind your own business."  "Shut the XXX up."

Asks another question to your question.

"I don't know."

Discusses your personality/tone of voice/past actions instead of the topic.

"I don't have time."  "I don't care."  "I am not interested."  "It doesn't matter."  "Someone else already figured it out."  "We will never know."  "I don't want to know."

The other person talks really loud and aggressively and doesn't let you get any words in and talks on and on and on and is lecturing you instead of having a back and forth conversation.

Edited November 5, 2021 by PepperBlossoms

[Carl-Richard]

"How is this useful?"

[PepperBlossoms]

An emotional reaction.

(Interesting how we can get so emotional in wishing for the truth to be a certain way that it gets in the way of looking for it).

[Consept]

1 hour ago, PepperBlossoms said:

An emotional reaction.

(Interesting how we can get so emotional in wishing for the truth to be a certain way that it gets in the way of looking for it).

Its an interesting quirk and i think its the first sign of cognitive dissonance if you feel yourself getting emotional. If you think about it, its because we tie ourselves to the opinion and someone questioning it is like an attack on ourselves, if we werent attached to the opinion there wouldnt be much reaction. 

[PepperBlossoms]

"I will think about these thoughts."

"Your thoughts are very interesting."

"Thanks for the thoughts."

(All of which stop the discussion)

 

Yeah it is weird how we tie ourselves to the opinion.  We would rather change others to conform to us than have others change us to conform to them.

I don't know how one gets unattached to one's opinions other than just being in an I don't care state but saying I don't care is also an opinion.

[Consept]

2 minutes ago, PepperBlossoms said:

Yeah it is weird how we tie ourselves to the opinion.  We would rather change others to conform to us than have others change us to conform to them.

Haha yeah very true 

3 minutes ago, PepperBlossoms said:

I don't know how one gets unattached to one's opinions other than just being in an I don't care state but saying I don't care is also an opinion.

Its hard to do it because youd have to have a certain awareness that youre doing it in the first place which is specifically what youre trying to avoid. But i think if you set truth as the most important thing then it will at least encourage you to question and challenge your own opinions. If you look at things from a distance is very easy to not be tied to it and then be quite rational, for example if you heard about tribes in the jungles of africa being in conflict, youd be able to look at that and think rationally what can be done to sort out that conflict, whereas if youre in America and youre a republican or democrat youll likely be pretty biased and want to hold on to your opinion that your party is 'right', so the conflict will never get resolved. 

[Gesundheit2]

"Mindset is everything".

"Don't be a victim".

"You are not awake".

Edited November 5, 2021 by Gesundheit2

[PepperBlossoms]

"How did we get to this topic?"