Rhetorical devices

Techniques used to persuade rather than reason. Some are fair; many are traps.

Coded language that carries an extra meaning for a target subgroup while sounding innocuous to everyone else.

Softened language that obscures what is actually being described.

Presenting two positions as evenly supported when the evidence behind them is not.

Seeding vague fear about an alternative instead of making the case for your own option.

A sustained pattern of denial aimed at making someone distrust their own memory of events.

Word choice that delivers a verdict before any argument has been made.

A stock phrase deployed to close a question rather than answer it.

Vague attributions that imply a claim while leaving the speaker free to deny having made one.

Deflecting a criticism by raising a different criticism of the critic or their side.