Tactical Nihilism
A bad-faith debating tactic where the debater selectively rejects commonly understood concepts, systems of classification, or terminology used by their opponent, halting any substantive debate, but supports their own viewpoints using those same concepts.
Instead of evaluating the logic of an opposing argument, the tactical nihilist will feign confusion, and attack a term used by their opponent. If the opponent, unaware of the tactic, takes the debater's apparent confusion in good faith, the conversation is quickly derailed into long discussions where the debater will continually request more and more evidence simply to establish the term's definition or validity, which the debater really understood in the first place. The debater will split every hair, attempt to deconstruct other words and concepts, and request more evidence. The original argument is forgotten and appears to be unaddressed by the opponent, and the debater is then able to feel victorious.
Instead of evaluating the logic of an opposing argument, the tactical nihilist will feign confusion, and attack a term used by their opponent. If the opponent, unaware of the tactic, takes the debater's apparent confusion in good faith, the conversation is quickly derailed into long discussions where the debater will continually request more and more evidence simply to establish the term's definition or validity, which the debater really understood in the first place. The debater will split every hair, attempt to deconstruct other words and concepts, and request more evidence. The original argument is forgotten and appears to be unaddressed by the opponent, and the debater is then able to feel victorious.
Alice: White people, becoming a dwindling and hated minority in the United States, face challenges as a group and should be allowed to advocate for their interests as a race.
Bob: Race? What even is that, really? And what is white? What about Italians and the Irish? I don't even know what you're talking about.
Alice: Wait, you support black, Hispanic and Asian minority activism. You know what race is, and I've never heard you try to deny or deconstruct any of those other racial identities before. And you sure seem to know what white people are when you're attacking them for white privilege, or when you think there are too many of them. Please stop with the tactical nihilism.
Bob: Race? What even is that, really? And what is white? What about Italians and the Irish? I don't even know what you're talking about.
Alice: Wait, you support black, Hispanic and Asian minority activism. You know what race is, and I've never heard you try to deny or deconstruct any of those other racial identities before. And you sure seem to know what white people are when you're attacking them for white privilege, or when you think there are too many of them. Please stop with the tactical nihilism.
Tactical Nihilism
An intellectually dishonest and cowardly way to evade criticism of an extreme viewpoint by declaring that all morals/values/ethics are meaningless, but then proceed to support another extreme viewpoint using morals/values/ethics.
A: Do you realize that eugenics and measuring an individual’s worth by cognition would result in something as appaling as the Third Reich’s eugenic programs?
B: Who gives a fuck about morality, it’s not like it has any meaning to our existence anyways.
A: But hold on, didn’t you say that extrajudicial killings of drug users are justified because they are a detriment to “societal progress” and “the family”?
B: LISTEN YOU FUCKING CUCK, DO YOU WANT TO FLUSH DOWN ALL OF YOUR HERITAGE DOWN THE TOILET BECAUSE OF YOUR LOVE FOR CULTURAL MARXISM FUCKIN SJW REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YOU JUST CAN’T UNDERSTAND ME BECAUSE OF MY SUPERIOR HIGH IQ GENES!!!!
And that folks, is what Tactical Nihilism looks like.
B: Who gives a fuck about morality, it’s not like it has any meaning to our existence anyways.
A: But hold on, didn’t you say that extrajudicial killings of drug users are justified because they are a detriment to “societal progress” and “the family”?
B: LISTEN YOU FUCKING CUCK, DO YOU WANT TO FLUSH DOWN ALL OF YOUR HERITAGE DOWN THE TOILET BECAUSE OF YOUR LOVE FOR CULTURAL MARXISM FUCKIN SJW REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE YOU JUST CAN’T UNDERSTAND ME BECAUSE OF MY SUPERIOR HIGH IQ GENES!!!!
And that folks, is what Tactical Nihilism looks like.