Psychobabble Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry

[Dr Adequate]

Well, the definition of "open-minded" came up.

It's psychobabble.

Let me explain.

If we disagree with one another, this is because I have a nicer personality than yours. This is shown by the way in which you, hurtfully, attack my beliefs, which is a form of oppression, while I, sweetly, show you the error of your ways, which is doing you a favour. This sort of egomaniac double standard obviously requires a language with a built-in double standard for its expression. And this, my friends, is psychobabble.

The key, as you will see below, is that I should never "explain why you're wrong" in the sense of explaining where the error of fact or reasoning in your argument lies --- because there might not be one. If I went down that road, I might occasionally discover myself to be in error. Instead, I must always "explain why you're wrong" in the sense of locating the neurosis which prevents you from agreeing with me.


Some notes towards an intergloss...

English: "I think such-and-such a thing, but you don't."
Psychobabble: "I am open-minded. You have a closed mind"

English: "You believe one thing and I believe another."
Psychobabble: "You are trying to supress my beliefs."

English: "You are disagreeing with something I said."
Psychobabble: "You are being defensive."

English: "You are telling me something I don't agree with."
Psychobabble: "You are telling me what to think."

English: "You are pointing out how my actions may harm others."
Psychobabble: "You are emotionally blackmailing me."

English: "You don't agree with everything I say."
Psychobabble: "You have a negative personality."

English: "You are more upset than me about this."
Psychobabble: "You are over-emotional."

English: "You are less upset than me about this."
Psychobabble: "You are cold and unfeeling."

English: "You are more accurate than me."
Psychobabble: "You are anal-retentive."

English: "You're good at maths or science and I'm not."
Psychobabble: "You are autistic."

English: "You've bothered to find out what you're talking about and I haven't."
Psychobabble: "I am not bounded by conventional orthodox thought, unlike you."

English: "My arguments have not changed your mind."
Psychobabble: "You are narrow-minded."

English: "Your arguments have not changed my mind."
Psychobabble: "I don't let other people tell me what to think."

Enlish: "My lack of any arguments whatsoever haven't changed your mind."
Psychobabble: "You have no imagination."

English: "I've told you how great I think it would be if I was right, and you still don't believe me."
Psychobabble: "You have no sense of wonder."

English: "You don't believe me, and you belong to social group X, which I do not."
Psychobabble: "You're only saying that because you're an X."

English: "You don't believe me, and I belong to social group Y, which you do not."
Psychobabble: "You're only saying that because I'm a Y."

English: "You don't agree with me."
Psychobabble: "You are afraid of the truth."

 

[Yaotl]

Nicely said.

 

[Nex]

 

[phildonnia]

English: "You don't believe me, and you belong to social group X, which I do not."
Psychobabble: "You're only saying that because you're an X."

Nonsense! I have lots of Y friends!

 

[TheBoyPaj]

Oh yes. I have seen all of those before, many times. But interestingly...

English: "You are disagreeing with something I said."
Psychobabble: "You are being defensive."

More frequently, I have heard the psychobabble translation read "You are being aggressive". The exact opposite.

Now, on the Mia Dolan forum, disagreeing with someone else's opinion was defined as "being offensive", and thus was punishable by banning.

 

[NoZed Avenger]

Well, the definition of "open-minded" came up.

It's psychobabble.

Wow -- you're very defensive on this issue.

You seem to have a very negative attitude.

Maybe if you were more open-minded, you'd be able to see that.

N/A

The negativity trifecta.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Thanks, The BoyPaj --- you're right --- in psychobabble "aggressive" and "defensive" are synonyms.

Oh, I forgot my all-time favourite. You can see how this one would annoy me.

English: "You only ever say things which you believe to be true."
Pschobabble: "You always think you're right."

Moreover:

English "You don't think I'm right."
Psychobabble: "You can't even admit the possibility that you're wrong."

English: "What you've said is confirmed by the world's greatest authority on the subject (of which I am completely ignorant)."
Psychobabble: "I think for myself."

English: "What you have said has been confirmed by science a dozen times over."
Psychobabble: "You are locked in the straitjacket of the dogmatic Western linear dualistic reductionist paradigm."

 

[Red Siegfried]

You could substitute the word "conservative" for "English" and the word "liberal" for "Psychobabble."

(Ducks as the grand-daddy of all pie fights begins, takes one in the face)



Just wanted to see if I could get a rise out of anyone with that one.

Wait ... does that make me a troll? Sorry.

To be fair, there are psychobabblers at all frequencies of the political spectrum. But I state the obvious.

 

[Dr Adequate]

I think you'll find that who you hear this from will depend on which groups of people you argue with. That is, if you agree with conservatives and disagree with liberals, than you are much more likely to hear liberals telling you that you have a closed mind than conservatives. Five seconds thought would have told you that, but hey, thought is irksome, five seconds is a long time, and you wanted to wind up "liberals". I quite understand.

I still want to know at what point American conservatives adopted "liberal" as their hate-word. It really tells you all you need to know about them, doesn't it?

Those pesky "liberals". I bet a lot of them are also "intellectuals" (smarter than right-wing woowoos); "God-haters" (atheists/agnostics); against "life" (support abortion under some circumstances); "want to remove God from national life" (support the First Amendment); "want to excise God from the public mind" (support the teaching of real science in public schools); they have "bleeding hearts" (would like other people besides themselves to have better lives); support a "death tax" (tax on inherited wealth); and are "unpatriotic" (are not certain whether the next war scheduled is actually in America's interests).They also "whine" a lot. "Whining" is pointing out that America is not perfect, and that something should be done about it. And if they don't like it here, then instead of expressing their pesky opinions and casting their pesky votes, why don't they go and live somewhere else? Ah well, they're improving a little, I suppose. In the 1950s they'd have been "communists" (further left than McCarthy); and in the 1960s they'd have been "n*****-lovers" (decent human beings).

The American right wing will have little need of the weak cordial of psychobabble so long as they can intoxicate themselves with the headier cocktail of hysteria, hatred and paranoia.

 

[jj]

You could substitute the word "conservative" for "English" and the word "liberal" for "Psychobabble."

(Ducks as the grand-daddy of all pie fights begins, takes one in the face)



Just wanted to see if I could get a rise out of anyone with that one.

Wait ... does that make me a troll? Sorry.

To be fair, there are psychobabblers at all frequencies of the political spectrum. But I state the obvious.

Why, why, thank you for sharing that!

 

[Red Siegfried]

I think you'll find that who you hear this from will depend on which groups of people you argue with. That is, if you agree with conservatives and disagree with liberals, than you are much more likely to hear liberals telling you that you have a closed mind than conservatives. Five seconds thought would have told you that, but hey, thought is irksome, five seconds is a long time, and you wanted to wind up "liberals". I quite understand.

I still want to know at what point American conservatives adopted "liberal" as their hate-word. It really tells you all you need to know about them, doesn't it?

Those pesky "liberals". I bet a lot of them are also "intellectuals" (smarter than right-wing woowoos); "God-haters" (atheists/agnostics); against "life" (support abortion under some circumstances); "want to remove God from national life" (support the First Amendment); "want to excise God from the public mind" (support the teaching of real science in public schools); they have "bleeding hearts" (would like other people besides themselves to have better lives); support a "death tax" (tax on inherited wealth); and are "unpatriotic" (are not certain whether the next war scheduled is actually in America's interests).They also "whine" a lot. "Whining" is pointing out that America is not perfect, and that something should be done about it. And if they don't like it here, then instead of expressing their pesky opinions and casting their pesky votes, why don't they go and live somewhere else? Ah well, they're improving a little, I suppose. In the 1950s they'd have been "communists" (further left than McCarthy); and in the 1960s they'd have been "n*****-lovers" (decent human beings).

The American right wing will have little need of the weak cordial of psychobabble so long as they can intoxicate themselves with the headier cocktail of hysteria, hatred and paranoia.

You're only saying that because you're a liberal and you're afraid of the truth. I, on the other hand, am open-minded while you are close-minded. Now, stop emotionally blackmailing me.



JK. Actually, what you said is very true, Adequate.

The way I see it, as long as ALL of us make sure not to demonize the other side in the realm of politics, we can usually more quickly come to an agreement that works best for everyone. More brains working in conjunction always do a better job than fewer.

But enough of me hijacking this into a political thread. I'll go take it over onto another forum if I want to do that. Uh ... too late?

 

[maddafinga]

I read these forums every day, and have been for some time now. Every now and again I even chime in. This is one of those times.

I just want to say, Dr Adequate, you're my hero! I wish I could express myself half as well as you. I don't mean this to sound like a blatent buttkissing, but I continue to be impressed and so felt that I had to tip my hat. Keep it up sir.

 

[Wudang]

English "I guess you've proved your point"
Psychobabble "Why is it so important to you to be right?"

I once replied "It's interesting that you regard a search for the truth as evidence of a character defect". Conversation went downhill from there.

 

[misawafan]

As someone that lives in the midst of the insanity I must say - respect to you my good Doctor...

 

[Harlequin]

English "I'm a raving loon that can't understand the implications of any of my irrational beliefs"
Psychobabble: "I'm mostly a sceptic, but there was this one medium..."

 

[Dr Adequate]

Wow, I'm blushing. Thanks.

English: "You disagree with me, as do a majority of people."
Psychobabble: "You are following the herd."

English "You disagree with me, as do a minority of people."
Psychobabble: "You are an elitist."

English: "I hate you because you don't agree with me."
Psychobabble: "I feel sorry for you."

 

[Dr Adequate]

Thanks to Janice for this one.

English: "You already know something about what I’m talking about, and you disagree with me."
Psychobabble: "You have already made up your mind, so there's no point in talking to you."

 

[TheBoyPaj]

English: "I am embarassed because you have shown my arguments to be fallacious"
Psychobabble: "You always belittle people."

English: "I can't be bothered to do research on this issue."
Psychobabble: "I have a life."

 

[Janice]

Paj - long time no see.

 

[The Mighty Thor]

Paj - long time no see.

Hmmm. Now I wonder if Janice's psychic is Mia Dolan and Janice is either from that now deceased forum or HealthyPages. No matter, the pattern is SO predictable.

Lucianarchy, songstress, Halimah, OpenMind -- all the same style.