thought-terminating cliché

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| quote = 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. They become the start and finish of any ideological analysis.

| source = Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Chapter 22: "Ideological Totalism"

(1961)

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| title = R. J. Lifton's definition

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}}

The earliest recorded definition of the term was published in Robert Jay Lifton's book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism in 1961 wherein he was describing the structure of language used by the Chinese Communist Party, defining the term as "the start and finish of any ideological analysis". It was listed as the sixth (of eight) totalistic themes.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FU_ifHrIIg0C&pg=PA429|title=Thought reform and the psychology of totalism: A study of brainwashing in China|last=Lifton|first=Robert J.|publisher=UNC Press|year=1989|isbn=9780807842539|edition=reprint|via=Google Books|page=429|chapter=Chapter 22, Ideological Totalism|orig-year=1961}} The term is written under the sixth (of eight) criteria for thought reform 'Loading the Language', of which various authors and scholars also consider the term to be a form of loaded language.{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BfwBBAAAQBAJ&q=%22thought+terminating+cliche%22&pg=PT186|title=Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?|last=Bufe|first=Charles|date=1 December 1997|publisher=See Sharp Press|isbn=1884365752|edition=2nd, revised|via=Google Books|chapter=Chapter 9: Is AA a Cult?|orig-year=1991}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVhPATI2woYC&q=Thought-terminating|title=Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control|last=Taylor|first=Kathleen|date=27 July 2006|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0199204780|edition=illustrated, reprint|via=Google Books|pages=17, 21|chapter=The birth of a word|orig-year=2004}}

Charles 'Chaz' Bufe in his book Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure? (1997) broadly put the use of the cliché as "thought-stopping phrases (that) include any use of the language, especially repeated phrases, to ward off forbidden thoughts" in describing his interactions with the Alcoholics Anonymous aid movement. Author, show-host and doctor Robert 'Bo' Bennett described the term as describing a substitute for "a person's actual position or argument with a distorted, exaggerated, or misrepresented version of the position of the argument" in his 2017 book Logically Fallacious, along with a proposed logical form of the cliché: "Person 1 makes claim Y. Claim Y sounds catchy. Therefore, claim Y is true."

The Southern California Law Review, Volume 51, Part 1, describes the use of such clichés as "to capture the vehicles of thought and communication; 'Doctrine over reality' (which includes the rewriting of history and reinterpretation of one's past)" and as a property of "ideological totalists".{{cite journal |year=1978 |title=Religious Totalism: Gentle and Ungentle Persuasion Under the First Amendment |url=https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1402&context=fac_articles |journal=Southern California Law Review |volume=51 |page=68 |last=Delgado |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Delgado}}

Bennett explains that exceptions are made to the use of phrases that would otherwise be considered thought-terminating if they are used in addition to evidence or strong claims.

• "It's not that deep." – dismisses attempts to expose faulty logic by asserting that logic is not necessary in this particular case.{{Cite web |last=Eettickal |first=Enya |title=It's not that deep, or is it? |url=https://observer.case.edu/its-not-that-deep-or-is-it/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=The Observerv|publisher=Case Western Reserve University}}
• "Lies of the devil." – used as a response to any fact that threatens the integrity of an individual or group.{{Cite book |title=Cult proofing your kids |last=Martin |first=Paul |date=1993 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=0310537614 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|oclc=26973667 |page=189}}
• "Stop thinking so much." – redirects attention from the topic, idea, or argument at hand to the alleged overuse of thought itself.
• "It's all good." – nullifies, without evidence, any possible debate by asserting the issue is already settled.{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@.WOKE/the-rise-of-the-thought-terminating-cliche-in-the-era-of-trump-d32069c908da|title=The Rise of The Thought Terminating Cliche & Bumper Sticker Logic in The Era of Trump|last=Gwazi|first=Dinfa|date=2017-05-20|website=Medium|access-date=2019-05-10}}{{ugc|date=March 2025}}
• "Here we go again." – implies that the redundant, cyclical nature of a given disagreement means it will never be resolved.{{citation|title=Decision Downloading|last1=Clampitt|first1=Phillip G.|last2=Williams|first2=M. Lee|magazine=MIT Sloan Management Review|date=Winter 2007|volume=48|issue=2|url=http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/decision-downloading/|access-date=October 25, 2016}}
• "So what? What effect does my action have?" – used to dismiss an individual's involvement in a larger cause on the grounds that one person is too insignificant to ever have a meaningful impact.
• "Let's agree to disagree." – used to stop discussion of an issue rather than attempt to resolve it;{{cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=Katherine |last2=Marcum |first2=Anthony |title=Diversity in International Arbitration |date=4 November 2022 |publisher=Edward Elgar |isbn=978-1-80392-004-7 |pages=119–134 |url=https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803920047.00016 |chapter=CETA – where are the women? Diffusing the thought-terminating clichés that impeded diversity|doi=10.4337/9781803920047.00016 }} may, however, instantiate a dialectic.
• "It is what it is." – implies that things are unchangeable, therefore there is no point in further discussion.{{citation|title=Loaded Language and Conspiracy Theorizing|last1=Klein|first1=Emily G.|last2=Hendler|first2=James|magazine=Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society|date=2022|volume=44|issue=44|url=https://dspace.rpi.edu/items/8baf8dd7-5a42-40f0-9f3e-0844cc6743e7|access-date=2024-06-14}}
• "Let people enjoy things." – purports that criticisms to consumable media are attempts to prevent consumers from enjoying said media.{{Cite news |last=Grady |first=Constance |date=May 16, 2019 |title=How “let people enjoy things” became a fight against criticism |url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/16/18618425/let-people-enjoy-things-criticism |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web/20250412210619/https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/16/18618425/let-people-enjoy-things-criticism |archive-date=April 12, 2025 |access-date=April 12, 2025 |work=Vox}}{{Cite news |last=Stitch |date=January 27, 2022 |title=On the Lie of "Let People Like Things" |url=https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lie-of-let-people-like-things-stitch-fan-service |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web/20250412210912/https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lie-of-let-people-like-things-stitch-fan-service |archive-date=April 12, 2025 |access-date=April 12, 2025 |work=Teen Vogue}}

Two criticisms made by various journalists are that the cliché tends to halt debate and restrict or censor freedom of speech, or tends to be synonymous with language that would be used by totalitarian states as Lifton originally identified with Communist China. Chancellor Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany is remarked to have employed such clichés and platitudes to justify his actions prior to and during the events of World War II.{{Cite magazine |last=Soni |first=I. M. |date=August 2017 |title=Cliches are like base coins |magazine=Alive |page=88}}

In Joan Didion's essay "Good Citizens", included in her 1979 collection The White Album, Didion writes of the clichés used by the people she sees as comprising 1960s "liberal Hollywood": "It is a way of talking that tends to preclude further discussion, which may well be its intention."

David Volodzko in The Diplomat in 2015 characterized China's justification for persecuting Tibetans, Uyghurs, Falun Gong, artists, and journalists (including Liu Xiaobo), summed up as "for security reasons", as a thought-terminating cliché, going on to say "that's every bit as vapid as 'God moves in a mysterious way' or 'support our troops'. What it really means is that the Party is more important than the people."{{Cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2015/06/chinas-biggest-taboos-the-three-ts/|title=China's Biggest Taboos: The Three Ts|last=Volodzko|first=David|website=The Diplomat|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-09}}

An example of the cliché in use provided by Chaz Bufe is "the admonition given to Catholic schoolchildren to recite the Hail Mary or rosary to ward off 'impure thoughts'. The use of repetitive chanting by the Hare Krishnas serves the same thought-stopping purpose." Christian author Ann Morisy criticized the Christian Church for their uses of such clichés coinciding with their doctrines that intentionally reduce the possibility of dialogue, stating that failure to move beyond them risks falling prey "to a new version of gnosticism" along with alienating those not of the faith.{{Cite book |title=Bothered and bewildered: enacting hope in troubled times |last=Morisy |first=Ann |date=2009 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=9781441163929 |location=London |oclc=680017855}}{{clarification needed|date=January 2025}} Scientology has also been criticized for using protocols, language and lexicons that use thought-terminating clichés to condition its members or to reaffirm a confirmation bias, which makes it difficult for members to think "outside the box".{{cite news|title=Scientology's enturbulating lingo|first=Britt|last=Peterson|date=March 19, 2015 |newspaper=Boston Globe|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/03/19/scientology-enturbulating-lingo/TvBESMQkV4RcxGnyrNSH1K/story.html |access-date=October 25, 2016}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/scientology-children-second-generation-846732/|title=Children of Scientology: Life After Growing Up in an Alleged Cult|last1=Sanders|first1=Ash|date=2019-06-24|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-07}}

• George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four – The totalitarian state Oceania implements Newspeak, a "pared-down version of English in which 'dangerous' words like 'freedom' no longer exist". Kathleen Taylor suggests in a case study that the words that remain as a result of the diminishing of the English language are ideologically loaded, and are "clear examples of Lifton's thought-terminating clichés".
• Aldous Huxley's Brave New World – The "Utopian" Society uses thought-terminating clichés more conventionally, most notably regarding the drug soma as well as modified versions of real-life platitudes, such as, "A doctor a day keeps the jim-jams away."

• Brainwashing
• Fighting words
• Godwin's law
• Indoctrination
• Language in Thought and Action by S. I. Hayakawa
• Loaded language
• Newspeak
• Soundbite
• Tautophrase
• Rhyme-as-reason effect
• Think of the children

{{Reflist}}

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Category:Barriers to critical thinking

Category:Linguistic controversies

Category:Political terminology

Category:Propaganda techniques

Category:Figures of speech

Category:Error