The Logical Fallacy's definitions

10 Rules Of Asshole Decorum

A set of guidelines that applies to those who which to be found within the Goldilocks Zone of Acceptable Asshold'em.

1. Consider whether or not your assholish response is inflicted on someone that deserves it.
2. Treat customer service people well, but not TOO well.
3. Do not be an asshole to your significant other.
4. Be clear to people that you are to spend a prolonged amount of time with that you are an asshole.
5. If around men, pretend that your asshole comment is just a joke. If around women, reserve all assholish behaviors to an absent mutual acquaintance.
6. When applying an assholish generalization of a specific group (see rule #5 for an example), be sure to create plausible deniability by saying “not all” followed by the targets of ridicule.
7. Select certain opinions of your opponent as amusing, but not worthy of an actual response.
8. Be interchangeably and inconsistently nice to people you are often an asshole too.
9. Don’t be an asshole to someone you see as beneath you in the social hierarchy, such as the homeless, children or developmentally challenged.
10. Do not be afraid to break rules #1-9 every now and again.

"It's great to be an asshole, but you don’t want to be a total asshole. There's a balance that must be struck. Assholes who are total assholes suffer too much backlash for their nature and are generally considered insufferable by all. Thus, you must learn to follow proper asshole decorum and fall under the Goldilocks Zone of Acceptable Asshold'em. You have accomplished this when people say things about you like 'he's funny, but he's an asshole', or 'I like Dave, but he's kind of an asshole.' That's the Goldilocks zone. You want people to compliment you, or express fondness for you, but then immediately feel the need to point out that you’re an asshole. So here are 10 rules to be a proper asshole with impeccable asshole decorum."
-- TJ "The Amazing Atheist" Kirk, "10 Rules Of Asshole Decorum"

by The Logical Fallacy February 27, 2019

trumpish

Simultaneously churlish and childish.

Now don't be trumpish.

by The Logical Fallacy January 3, 2019

Anti-Art

Art created to challenge the very definition of art and criticize the field as a whole, ironically becoming a part of the artistic establishment and changing the field.

Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" changed the world of art forever and became a staple of Anti-Art, having taken an old urinal, wrote his name on it and submitted it as an art piece. This led to debates so heated that if it wasn't for "Fountain" and its nuanced use of found objects, modern art would be nothing like it was today.

by The Logical Fallacy May 12, 2017

Panopticon Effect

Habits and behavior reflexively caused by the belief that one is being observed or when their actions will become known to another person.

If a stranger leaves a credit card in the room with you, you COULD write down all of its numbers and buy something with it, but you won't. Maybe because someone who would take offense to it is in the same room. Or there is a security camera in the room and someone on the other side will see it. Or the person who owns the card will notice less money in their account and find the address the package was sent to. You probably don't even know the specific reason beyond a strange tingling in the back of your neck warning you of the dangers of doing it. No matter the specific reason, they all fall under the Panopticon Effect.

by The Logical Fallacy October 3, 2022

Destructive Criticism

Often confused with Constructive Criticism, destructive criticism is when a critique is made that does little to open for improvement, but rather attacks the work through fallacious logic or personal bias, and often leads to the weaken rather than strengthen the work. Usually done to attack the creator and not the creation.

It's destructive criticism to demand a happy ending instead of a horrifying ending for an intentionally horrifying film.

by The Logical Fallacy October 16, 2016

Day of 1000 Cuts

A type of bad day that consists primarily of mishaps and general problems that one knowingly has no right to openly complain about, either being too minor and inconsequential to be worth getting upset over or are because of that person's own poor decisions, until the person in question's temper boils over.

I overslept, I forgot to pack a lunch,I stub my toe on the way out, I have to drive for an hour while keeping a fly trapped with me in the car out of my face, I remember that I have to get an oil change, all of my ceramic pots exploded in the kiln because of air-bubbles in them, I leave my homework in my car and only remember until after I make it to class and then I have to sit in traffic in an hour, a firetruck overseeing the wreck taking up three lanes on the freeway. "Death by 1000 Cuts"? Well mine was a Day of 1000 Cuts.

by The Logical Fallacy October 4, 2018

Catastrophizing

A psychotherapeutic term for a cognitive distortion where anxiety or depression leads you to infer apocalyptic conclusions from mundane setbacks and anxieties.

Catastrophizing usually comes in a litany of steps that start from a mundane setback all the way to absolute existential hoplessness. For instance:

1. Oh no, I'm going to be late for work.
2. My boss is going to be angry.
3. I'm going to lose my job.
4. I'm not going to be able to get another one.
5. I'm going to be unemployed forever.
6. My family will starve.
7. Oh God, we're all going to die!!!

Each step in the sequence is arguably plausible, but the snowball effect takes it into the realms of absurdity after a while.

by The Logical Fallacy August 19, 2018