The Rise of The Thought Terminating Cliche & Bumper Sticker Logic in The Era of Trump

It is what it is

The thought terminating cliche is a unique rhetorical tool that kills discussion and preserves the status quo.

It stops any type of analysis or higher though in favor of easily digestible memes and soundbites.

The Trump campaign strategically disseminated memes and thought terminating cliches to online spaces populated with predominantly disenfranchised young white males.

Beyond their relation to the most recent election thought terminating cliches are all around us and constantly stifling discussion and preserving the status quo by failing to disrupt the ideas that sustain it.

I guess corporate welfare doesn’t exist.

Lets address a few examples:

1. “It’s all good.” It’s rarely all good but if you want people to stop analyzing it, say this.

2. “God works in mysterious ways,” or the converse, “Shit happens.” Both reductionist and simple-minded, but effective warnings to anyone who likes to think that you don’t.

3. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t/It is what it is” This is often an attempt to reduce a complex but tractable situation to a double-bind that has no solution.

4. “It’s apples and oranges.” No, it’s actually something that may require a higher-order frame of reference to analyze coherently.

5. “Well, I’ll be darned/damned/God-damned.” You might be but that probably has nothing to do with your inability to be articulate about the current situation.

6. “Build The wall” Instead of addressing the complex nature of the economic and job crisis in America blame immigrants and put forth an unbelievably simple solution to a multilayered nuanced problem

7. “Make America Great Again” How? There is no plan or blueprint ever presented. It is an empty statement that preys on the recipients on consciousness this statement could mean anything depending on the person hearing it.

In the end these cliches are defense mechanisms. It stops us from having to question our beliefs. Why squash an argument, if you feel comfortable talking about it? Because we don’t feel comfortable talking about it.

Why?

There are some subconscious beliefs driving us towards these thought processes, and the way we use language is an indication of what’s going on inside of a persons mind.