Demagogy

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Demagogy is the set of methods used by demagogues. It is a strategy of obtaining power by appealing to the popular prejudices, fears, and expectations of the public, usually through an impassioned use of rhetoric and propaganda; often centered upon nationalistic or populist themes.

H. L. Mencken, an American critic, defined a demagogue as

"one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."

The word is commonly used as a political insult: political opponents are described as demagogues, but politicians approved of are "men of the people," or great speechmakers.

Although, according to Mencken's definition, Demagogy involves lying, some would say it doesn't, since it doesn't use false facts directly, but rather brings the uncritical listener to draw the desired conclusion himself. Demagogy often involves logical fallacies, but has many aspects that have nothing to do with logic. While it may not rely heavily upon outright lies, the use of half-truths, omissions, and distortions define Demagogy; it is in essence arguing in bad-faith for the purpose of political gain.

The word is derived from the Greek words demos (people) and agogos (leading).

1 Methods of demagogy
2 See also
3 References

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Methods of demagogy

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Methods not involving violations of logic

Numerical demagogy - mixing of incomparable quantities. For example, "our government has increased social spending by 5 billion dollars, while the previous government has increased it only by 0.4 percent." Obviously, the latter sounds like less, but one cannot be sure without an absolute value.

False authority - relying on the general authority of a person who is not proficient in the discussed topic. Example: "the professor read my book, and liked it very much". The fact that it was a professor of chemistry who read a book on anthropology is omitted.

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Methods involving violation of logic

For or against - assuming that there are only two possible opinions on a given topic. Example: "Smith is not with us, therefore he is against us". The possibility of a neutral position or divergence is ignored.

Demonization - identifying others as a mortal threat. Often this involves scapegoating--blaming others for one's own problems. This is often advanced by using vague terms to identify the opposition group and then stereotyping that group. This allows the demagogue to exaggerate this group's influence and ascribe any trait to them by identifying that trait in any individual in the group. This method can be aided by constructing a false dilemma that portrays opposition groups as having a value system that is the polar opposite of one's own, as opposed to simply having different priorities.

Straw man - mischaracterizing the opposing position and then arguing against the mischaracterization.

Loaded question - posing a question with an implied position that the opponent does not have.

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Arguments unrelated to a discussion

Unrelated facts - bringing unrelated facts that sound in favor of the speaker's agenda. Example: "Our beverages do not contain sodium deoxycholate". This is probably true, but the mentioned chemical is a detergent, and should not be contained in any beverage whatsoever.

Emotional appeal or personal attack - an attempt to bring a discussion to an emotional level. For example, "Everyone is against me!", "Can't I be right just once?", "You're stupid!", "You are demagoguing!" or just the classic retort "Shut up!"

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