A THEIST believes there is a God who made and governs all creation; but does not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, nor in a divine revelation. A DEIST believes there is a God who created all things, but does not believe in His superintendence and government. [source]
DEISM is the belief in a creator, who made the world but does not take a personal interest in it — doesn’t require worship, answer prayers, judge behavior, or necessarily promise a life after death (unless that was part of the original creation). Deism is a fairly benign belief, because there are no consequences for accepting or rejecting it. THEISM is the belief in an active, interventionist god who not only created the world (and some believe fine-tuned it for human use), but also may require worship, answer prayers, judge sinners, and may have created a divine son or other entities to live among humans. Theists are 100 percent certain their god(s) exist, and have faith in this without any objective, verifiable evidence. There are many theistic religions, each of which insists it is the only true one. [source]
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: According to cognitive dissonance theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions (i.e., beliefs, opinions). When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance.
CONFIRMATION BIAS: the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses | the tendency to pick and choose evidence that only confirms one’s existing opinion [source]
ATTRIBUTION BIAS: the tendency to believe your own reasoning is better than other peoples’ reasoning [source]
STRAW MAN: a common form of argument; debaters invoke a straw man when they put forth an argument – usually something extreme or easy to argue against – that they know their opponent doesn’t support. You put forth a straw man because you know it will be easy for you to knock down or discredit. It’s a way of misrepresenting your opponent’s position. [source]
RED HERRING: a clue or piece of information which is or is intended to be misleading or distracting
KAFKATRAPPING: A sophistical and unfalsifiable form of argument that attempts to overcome an opponent by inducing a sense of guilt and using the opponent’s denial of guilt as further evidence of guilt. | To accuse someone of some form of “ism” (sexism, racism etc.) and to proclaim that their denial, or any attempt they make to defend themselves, is proof that they are guilty. [source]
POSTMODERNISM: A general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among others. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. [source]
NEO-LIBERALISM: A modified form of liberalism tending to favour free-market capitalism
INTERSECTIONALITY: concept often used in critical theories to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another [source] | the oppression and discrimination resulting from the overlap of an individual’s various social identities [source]
CULTURAL MARXISM: According to Rational Wiki, the term is used to paint anyone with progressive tendencies as a secret Communist. The term alludes to a conspiracy theory in which left-wingers have infiltrated media, academia, and science and are engaged in a decades-long plot to undermine Western culture. Some variants of the conspiracy alleges that most of modern social liberalism is a Communist front.
REACTIONARY: person, viewpoint, approach or policy opposing political or social progress or reform
NARRATIVE: most common meaning: a spoken or written account of connected events; a story | also used in the context of media coverage: a representation of a particular situation or process in such a way as to reflect or conform to an overarching set of aims or values
VIRTUE SIGNALLING: the conspicuous expression of moral values done primarily with the intent of enhancing standing within a social group. [source]
IDENTITY POLITICS: a tendency for people of a particular religion, race, social background, etc., to form exclusive political alliances, moving away from traditional broad-based party politics. [source]
CRITICAL THEORY: […]
DOG WHISTLE: a subtly aimed political message which is intended for, and can only be understood by, a particular demographic group
GASLIGHT: to manipulate someone by psychological means into doubting their own sanity
REDPILL/BLUEPILL: The red pill and its opposite, the blue pill, are popular cultural memes, a metaphor representing the choice between knowledge, freedom, and the brutal truths of reality (red pill), and security, happiness and the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue pill).
REDPILLED (v.): slang for when a liberal becomes more conservative
DOX: (v.) Internet-based practice of researching and broadcasting private or identifiable information (especially personally identifiable information) about an individual or organization | to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge
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