Civility and Rhetoric Flashcards
What contributes to polarization?
- Distance: views are farther apart
- Homogeneity: little variance among group members
What are values?
The standards, ideals, or principles that you believe are important and worthwhile
How do you identify and resolve value conflicts?
Looks for underlying and overlapping values
How do you guard a claim?
Focus on tearing down one of the premises to weaken the claim presented
How do you discount a claim?
Create an independent objection that weakens the claim presented
What determines the connotation of a word?
The ideas that surround the word regardless of its actual meaning, AKA “what immediately comes to mind”
What is the importance of connotation?
Can elicit more positive or negative emotions based on who is perceiving the word or phrase
What are weasel words/jargon?
Misleading words that still pertain to the topic at hand
What is doublespeak?
Words that are simply (but deliberately) used to be misleading
What are some examples of jargon/doublespeak?
Virtual/virtually, acts/works/helps, can be/might be, up to/as much as, hundreds of people, etc.
