High Engagement Bullshit Techniques

On social media websites like Twitter, people practice high-engagement bullshittery in pursuit of virality. Some of these techniques are quite interesting. I usually block people when I encounter them, but sometimes I fall for them and try to reply before I realize what they're doing.

Specialization of General Categories

This is where someone takes a line that has a universal category reference and then specializes it to an element of the category. They then rely on scalar implicature to create a false idea of what is being represented.

Here is an example:

Joe @Joe

In "Debt" David Graeber suggests that black people don't own corner stores because other black people would demand credit at the store on overly friendly terms.

Oct 27, 2024

The actual quote goes like this

If one is on sociable terms with someone, it’s hard to completely ignore their situation. Merchants often reduce prices for the needy. This is one of the main reasons why shopkeepers in poor neighborhoods are almost never of the same ethnic group as their customers; it would be almost impossible for a merchant who grew up in the neighborhood to make money, as they would be under constant pressure to give financial breaks, or at least easy credit terms, to their impoverished relatives and school chums.

— David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years, p.102

By stating the quote in terms of "Black people" alone, the implication is that this is behaviour specific to Black people. A rudimentary reading of the text clearly shows that this is not what was intended to be conveyed. The statement may be true or false, but it does not convey anything specific about Black people as opposed to other ethnic groups in poor neighbourhoods.