Episode 2: Poe’s Law – Making Sense of the Internet

In this episode, Phil and Steve discuss the various “bad faith” ways that conversations can go in both politics and on the internet. They touch on various issues that were happening at the time of recording, such as the Capitol Riots and Trump. 

The episode diverges from the previous one by covering a grab bag of topics involving verbal tricks and slippery speech. Starting with Poe’s Law:

“Poe’s law is an adage of Internet culture stating that, without a clear indicator of the author’s intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of the views being parodied.”

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References

• Poe’s Law
• Usenet
• WIRED – Can’t Take a Joke? That’s Just Poe’s Law, 2017’s Most Important Internet Phenomenon
• Doublespeak
• What I’ve Learned (Youtube Channel/Video)
• 4 kinds of Doublespeak:
• Euphemism: Disguises fear by concealing the truth through soft language
• Jargon: sometimes useful, but used in an inappropriate circumstance 
• Gobbledegook: bureaucratese – close relative to gish gallop (which uses arguments); designed to overwhelm and obscure.
• Inflated Language: designed to make the simple seem complex or to give an air of importance to people, things, or situations.
• Bill Clinton’s “meaning of the word ‘is’ is”
• PewDiePie’s “Joke”
• Pearl Clutching
• Slate – A plague of pearl clutching
• Nihilism
• Jung’s Shadow
• Horseshoe Theory 
• Woke vs Racist
• No True Scotsman Fallacy
• Post-Truth
• Troll Farms

Further Reading

• /r/poeslawinaction/
• /r/atetheonion
• Double Speak by Lutz
• This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship Between Online Trolling and Internet Culture – Whitney Phillips
• Propublica – Russia’s Shadow-War in a Wary Europe