rhetoric

June 15, 2024

Thoughtlets. LIII. Gossepistemology.

I’m suggesting a novel portmanteau, at least in as far as a cursory Google search tells me: Gossepistemology. Gossip + Epistemology. (*Google provides links to myriad articles on gossip & epistemology.) In Philosophy, epistemology is the branch concerned with the study of knowledge. A classical concern of epistemology is the distinction between opinion and knowledge Continue reading

Thoughtlets

belief, distinction, doxa, evidence, gossepistemology, gossip, knowledge, opinion, Philosophy, reliable, rhetoric, social, testimony
June 11, 2023

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. “AS EVERYONE KNOWS …”

DON’T LET THE ARGUMENT TO THE HAND-WAVE WIN THE DAY Continue reading

Pam-Toons

argument, belief, cartoon, dismiss, eopistemology, fallacy, graphic, hand, hand-wave, justification, pencil, Philosophy, photo, political, politics, rhetoric, sketch, sloppy, warrant, wave
March 20, 2022

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. In Matters of Love and War — And All Matters In Between — There is No Dearth of Armchair Psychiatrists

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Pam-Toons

ad hominen, armchair, cartoon, CNN, code, conspiracy, diagnoses, diagnosis, diagnostic, discourse, doctor, drawing, ethics, Fox, Goldwater Rule, gossip, graphic, judge, mainstream, media, mental health, MSNBC, opinion, pencil, PhD, political, politics, psychiatrist, psychiatry, psychologist, psychology, rhetoric, satire, sketch, social
January 17, 2022

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. The CDC reports an alarming number of repetitive strain injuries during the Finger-Wagging pandemic.

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Pam-Toons, Social and Political Commentary

accuse, art, cartoon, CDC, CNN, criticism, finger, finger-wagging, Fox, graphic, high dudgeon, holier than thou, hyper-morality, hyper-partisan, judgemental, media, moral, moralizing, MSNBC, nag, news, oratory, pandemic, pencil, photo, pointing, prig, repetitive strain, rhetoric, satire, scold, sketch, social
November 24, 2021

Thoughtlets. xxxvi. (Repost; January 27,2021)

Tacitus, an Roman historian, writes these words in the Annals sometime around 117 CE: “I wanted to dispel the fictions of hearsay, and to ask people into whose hands my book may come not to prefer widely circulated and eagerly accepted fantasies over truth uncorrupted by sensationalism.” Tacitus. The Annals: The Reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, and Continue reading

Thoughtlets

ancient, behaviour, CNN, criticism, fact, fiction, Fox, gossip, hearsay, history, media, MSNBC, news, patterns, Philosophy, rhetoric, sensationalization, tabloid, truth, wisdom
October 14, 2021

What, if anything, is wrong with MSNBC, CNN, and FOX? (Part 1 of 2)

My other half habitually surfs through a number of national and international news channels in the evenings. Our house is small, so I’m captive to whatever noise emanates from these rotating broadcasts. Sometimes this noise really gets under my skin. Such as? Such as the current tabloid coverage of the Gabby Petito case by the Continue reading

Philosophy, Political Rhetoric, Social and Political Commentary

analyses, analysis, beliefs, CNN, critic, criticism, determinants of health, divisions, doxa, doxastic, emotion, entertainment, epistemology, Fox, health, hyper, hyper-partisan, information, informed, internet, media, MSNBC, natural selection, news, newspapers, opinion, partisan, Philosophy, political, postman, rhetoric, smartphones, social, stability, tabloid, television
September 18, 2021

Thoughtlets.XLVII.

Just when news anchors’ hemorrhoid-inducing overuse of mindless phrases such as walk it back and double down starts to wane, another wave of brain-deadening soundbites inevitably waxes. And at its crest is the phrase bad actors. This phrase doesn’t refer to thespian hacks. Rather bad actors refers to those people the anchor doesn’t like and Continue reading

Political Rhetoric, Thoughtlets

cliche, CNN, criticism, Fox, media, media mainstream, MSNBC, news, overuse, pseudo-intellectual, rhetoric, sound bites, stereotype
September 18, 2021

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Ya gotta grab somethin’

Ya gotta grab somethin’ Continue reading

Pam-Toons

acquire, acquistion, art, belief, beliefs, belonging, desire, drawing, epistemology, grab, ideology, infant, need, passions, pastel, pencil, Philosophy, photo, reach, rhetoric, sketch, symbols, tribe
September 18, 2021

Saturday Morning Pam-toons. There’s a Reason It’s Called a Fairy Tale.

What REALLY happened to the boy who cried, The Emperor has no clothes! The Emperor’s New Clothes Continue reading

Pam-Toons

academic freedom, ad baculum, Andersen, art, censorship, drawing, fear, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, pencil, photo, reality, rhetoric, silence, sketch, story, The Emperor's New Clothes, threat, vain-glory
July 3, 2021

Thoughtlets. XLV. Theodicy revisited.

News media characteristically brings us one story after another about the kinds of things humans to do each other which are broadly characterized as ‘evil.’ And these stories tend to generate accusations of ‘evil-doers’ which are then dispatched with the speed and clamour of emergency vehicles headed to a five alarm fire. I’m not here Continue reading

Thoughtlets

discourse, emotion, evil, Mackie, media, Philosophy, politics, problem of evil, rhetoric, theodicy