Scaremongering

The act of arousing alarm through ominous reports or rumours for one's own personal gain.

Anti Vaxxer: Bill Gates is paying scientists to create a vaccine to depopulate the world.

Sane person: Stop with the anti vax scaremongering.

by Jeffy Jeffy who lives on Jeffy August 15, 2021

Pseudoscience Scaremongering

The strategic use of exaggerated threats about pseudoscience to justify censorship, exclusion, intellectual orthodoxy, and the suppression of dissent. Pseudoscience scaremongering treats every unconventional claim as a threat to civilization, every alternative approach as the edge of a slippery slope to barbarism, every deviation from consensus as the first step toward the end of reason. It's the op-ed warning that homeopathy will destroy medicine; the campaign claiming that questioning climate models is equivalent to climate denial; the rhetoric that treats any skepticism of scientific orthodoxy as an attack on science itself. The scaremongering serves power, not truth—it protects established institutions from challenge by painting all challenge as existential threat, making critique itself seem dangerous.

Example: "He claimed that teaching students to question scientific consensus would destroy Western civilization—not argument, but Pseudoscience Scaremongering, using exaggerated threat to shut down inquiry rather than engage it."

by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026

Postmodernism Scaremongering

The strategic use of exaggerated threats about postmodernism to justify intellectual orthodoxy, dismiss critique, and shut down legitimate inquiry. Postmodernism scaremongering treats any questioning of grand narratives, any attention to language and power, any skepticism about universal truth claims as the first step toward nihilism, barbarism, and the destruction of civilization itself. It's the op-ed warning that teaching Derrida will lead to fascism; the pundit who blames every social ill on "postmodern relativism"; the academic who uses "postmodernism" as a slur to dismiss any approach they don't like without engaging its actual arguments. The scaremongering serves power by making critique itself seem dangerous—painting those who question foundations as enemies of reason, when they might just be asking reasonable questions about whose reason counts.

Example: "He blamed postmodernism for everything from political polarization to declining test scores—never defining what he meant, just using it as a bogeyman. Pure Postmodernism Scaremongering: fighting shadows instead of arguments."

by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026

Relativism Scaremongering

The strategic use of exaggerated threats about relativism to justify absolute claims, dismiss alternative perspectives, and shut down questions about whose truth counts. Relativism scaremongering treats any suggestion that truth might be contextual, any acknowledgment that different cultures have different ways of knowing, any skepticism about universal standards as the first step toward moral chaos, political collapse, and the end of civilization. It's the pundit who warns that acknowledging cultural differences leads to approving genocide; the philosopher who treats any contextualism as a slippery slope to nihilism; the polemicist who uses "relativist" as a slur to dismiss anyone who questions their absolutes. The scaremongering makes critique unthinkable by making it seem monstrous—painting those who ask "whose truth?" as enemies of truth itself.

Example: "She suggested that maybe different cultures have different valid ways of knowing—and he accused her of endorsing Holocaust denial. Relativism Scaremongering: using the worst possible outcome to dismiss any nuance at all."

by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026

Anti-Pseudoscience Scaremongering

The specific practice of using fear about the dangers of pseudoscience to justify intellectual conformity, suppress dissent, and protect orthodoxies from challenge. Anti-pseudoscience scaremongering takes legitimate concerns about misinformation and inflates them into existential threats—treating every alternative health practice as a public health crisis, every unconventional claim as the death of reason, every question about consensus as the return of barbarism. It's the public intellectual who warns that questioning vaccines will bring back plagues; the science communicator who suggests that entertaining any criticism of established science undermines all of civilization; the skeptic who treats every believer in pseudoscience as a threat to humanity. The scaremongering is effective precisely because pseudoscience can cause harm—but by inflating every instance into catastrophe, it makes proportionate response impossible and critique of orthodoxy unthinkable.

Example: "He compared people who read alternative health websites to those who enabled Nazi atrocities—Anti-Pseudoscience Scaremongering at its most extreme, using the specter of ultimate evil to delegitimize any deviation from medical orthodoxy."

by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026

Post-Truth Scaremongering

The strategic use of exaggerated threats about the "post-truth era" to justify censorship, dismiss dissent, and protect established power from scrutiny. Post-truth scaremongering treats any challenge to official narratives, any skepticism about institutional claims, any alternative information sources as threats to democracy, reason, and civilization itself. It's the pundit who blames every political problem on "post-truth" without examining why people stopped trusting institutions; the fact-checker who treats all misinformation as equivalent, from genuine errors to legitimate critique; the establishment that uses "post-truth" as a cudgel against anyone who questions its version of reality. The scaremongering serves power by making dissent itself seem like a threat to truth—painting those who ask awkward questions as enemies of reality.

Example: "He called any reporting that contradicted the official narrative 'post-truth propaganda'—Post-Truth Scaremongering, using the concept of truth to protect power from accountability."

by Dumu The Void March 14, 2026

Caremongering

A movement rapidly spreading across Canada to spread kindness and help others in their communities.

Canada is wonderful for caremongering.

by TheWordSubmitter March 19, 2020