Thought-terminating cliché

A thought-terminating cliché is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance. Though the phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissent or justifying fallacious logic is what makes it thought-terminating.

The term was popularized by Robert Jay Lifton in his 1956 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. Lifton said, “The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis.”

In George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the fictional constructed language Newspeak is designed to reduce language entirely to a set of thought-terminating clichés. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World society uses thought-terminating clichés in a more conventional manner, most notably in regard to the drug soma as well as modified versions of real-life platitudes, such as, “A doctor a day keeps the jim-jams away.”

Non-political examples

• “That's a Good Thing.”
• “Why? Because I said so.” (Bare assertion fallacy—and “I’m the parent, that’s why” Appeal to authority).
• “That’s a no-brainer.”
• “That's a given”
• “When you get to be my age…” (as in “When you get to be my age you’ll find that’s not true.”)
• “You don’t always get what you want.”
• “What goes around comes around.”
• “You win some, you lose some.”
• “Ah well, swings and roundabouts.”
• “The best defence is a good offence.”
• “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.” (Appeal to ridicule if said sarcastically)
• “It works in theory, but not in practice.” (Base rate fallacy)
• “There's no silver bullet.”
• “It's just common sense.”
• “Stupid is as stupid does.”
• “It makes sense to me, and that's all that matters.”
• “Well, it just depends on the person.”
• “To each his own.”/“Each to his own.”
• “You've gotta live your life.”
• “Easy come, easy go.”
• “Life is unfair.”
• “Such is life.”
• “It is what it is.”
• “It was his time.”
• “Whatever.”
• “Yawn.”
• “Meh.”
• “You said that before“ or “There you go again.”
• “I'd like to see you do it better.”
• “It's not worth it.”
• “Whatever will be, will be.”

• “Be a man and...”
• “Who cares?“
• “It's a matter of opinion!”
• “You only live once.” (YOLO)
• “Think about it.”
• “Just forget it.”
• “...so, you do the math.”
• “We will have to agree to disagree.”
• “We all have to do things we don't like.”
• “You are not being a 'team player'.” (Ignoratio elenchi)
• “That's just wrong.” or “You just don’t do that.”
• “It takes all kinds to make a world.”
• “Just do it.”
• “That's what s/he said.”
• “Much like your posting.”
• “Don't be that guy.”
• “Just look at me now.”
• “Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.”
• “Because that is our policy.”
• “Don't be silly.”
• “There's no smoke without fire.” (used to convince others that a person is guilty based on accusation or hearsay and to discourage further examination of evidence)
• “But... anyways....”
• “I'm just sayin'.”
• “So it goes.”
• “Don't shoot the messenger.” (Bare assertion fallacy)
• “Me thinks thou dost protest too much.” or “The more you argue, the less we believe you.”
• “This too will pass.”
• “But it just feels (felt) right.”
• “Think of the children.”
• "Onward and Upward"
• "It's not that simple."
• "Rules are rules."
• "Do you think you are smarter than..."
• "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." (implies a causal relationship between delivering punishment in a certain instance and unquestionably have everyone getting punished and suffering. A form of slippery slope fallacy.)

Political examples

Thought-terminating clichés are sometimes used during political discourse to enhance appeal or to shut down debate. In this setting, their usage can usually be classified as a logical fallacy.^{[citation needed]]]}

• "Opposition at any cost!" (Bare assertion fallacy)
• "That's racist/sexist/homophobic/heterosexist/anti-semitic!" (Poisoning the well/Begging the question attack).
• "You racist/sexist/homophobe/heterosexist/antisemite!" (Ad hominem/Poisoning the well attack).
• "That’s just a (liberal/conservative/libertarian/communitarian/etc.) argument." (Association fallacy).
• "Socialism or barbarism!" (False Dichotomy)
• "'Anarchist organisations', isn't that an oxymoron?" (Equivocation)
• "Love it or leave it." (False dichotomy)
• "That's a conspiracy theory."
• "Fascist arguments need no comments." (Weasel words)
• "You're either with us, or against us."
• "Political correctness" or "PC"
• "It's political correctness gone mad!"
• "It's for the good of the public."

Religious examples

Thought-terminating clichés are also present in religious discourse in order to define a clear border between good and evil, holiness and sacrilege, and other polar opposites.^{[citation needed]]] These are especially present in religious literature.[citation needed]]]}

• "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away." Job 1:21
• "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!" (opposing same-sex marriage)
• "That's not Biblical."
• "God Moves/Works in Mysterious Ways."
• "Everything happens for a reason."
• "God never gives you more suffering than you can bear.”

The religious or semi-religious ideas of cults, heretics, and infidels are also often used as thought-terminating clichés, e.g. "Do not listen to him, he is an infidel," (a guilt by association fallacy) or "That line of thought sounds like a cult" (also a guilt by association fallacy).

As a tautology

The statement "that is a thought-terminating cliché" can itself function as a thought-terminating cliché. Once the stator has identified a first statement as a thought-terminating cliché, they may feel absolved of needing to determine whether that first statement is indeed a thought-terminating cliché or whether it has reasoned merit.

See also

• Indoctrination
• Loaded language
• Slogan
• Soundbite
• Newspeak
• Godwin's law
• Fighting words
• Language in Thought and Action by S. I. Hayakawa