Understanding Misdirection⚓︎
Summary⚓︎
One of the most important things you can do is surround yourself with good people. However, while good people can have some undesirable traits, one of the most undesirable is intentional misdirection. This generally falls under gaslighting and is something to avoid at all costs.
Being able to identify these traits is crucial. They serve to misdirect, confuse, and derail the conversation away from the subject at hand.
Common Misdirection Tactics⚓︎
Tactics
- Whataboutism: What about what the west did in Syria/Afghanistan/Iraq?
- Slippery Slope: If Russia doesn't do this, NATO will attack Russia first!
- Ad Hominem: Who are you, and what are your credentials? Are you an expert? Are you fighting in Ukraine right now?
- Outright Lies: Ukraine is developing bioweapons against Russia. Nazis run Ukraine. People who support Ukraine are racists.
- Fake News: That source is bullshit; everyone knows that. Those statistics can't be trusted; there's no way anyone can know the actual numbers, especially these so-called experts!
- Attacking Your Virtues: where was this level of support for the refugees of conflict x? You are the one picking a fight and will start world war iii if you keep it up!
- Diminishing Actions: Wow, what a useless gesture. More sanctions. Yawn. Oh, another United Nations vote. How effective. Not!
- Deflection: this is only Putin's fault; the soldiers are innocent and aren't doing anything wrong. They are just protecting their families! They are the victims here.
- Capitulating: Putin is crazy and has nukes. He's in a bunker and has survived this long. This war is Zelensky's fault. Just let him take Ukraine, so he leaves us alone.