danm Wrote:
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> So whilst the 'flawed reductio ad absurdum' might
> be applied, it doesn't really fit as it was merely
> a joke.
It does, because the rhetorical strategy of reductio ad absurdum, is to reduce the original point to something so ridiculous, that it can safely be ignored = a joke.
It is considered a "dirty trick" because the objective is accomplished without presenting any real counter-arguments at all. Thus the conversation is undermined through simple ridicule.
It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.