Robert Gressis (Cal State Northridge) and Kevin Currie-Knight (East Carolina University) talk about Kafkatraps. Kafkatrapping is a rhetorical technique where an objection to a particular charge will be used as evidence of that charge. (Are you a communist? If you say no, that just shows how sneaky a communist you are.) Rob and Kevin talk about how and why Kafkatraps work, their uses in cults, cospiracy theories, and other insular movements, and a few articles Kevin has written (for the Electric Agora) about Kafkatraps.
7:32 - When denials confirm the charge: what are Kafkatraps and how do they work?
16:31 - Kafkatrapping has a lengthy history
23:15 - Why do people (even unintentionally) employ Kafkatraps?
40:38 - Plausible and implausible reasons to doubt/dismiss the testimony of others
45:12 - Why cults often use Kafkatrapping techniques (and how Kevin almost became a scientologist)
54:34 - Why cults have to be small to see themselves as special
1:00:20 - How conspiracy theorists use Kafkatraps to dismiss naysayers
Robert, Kevin and I inaugurate a new feature at EA: a New Year's Contributors' Roundtable. Publication was delayed due to my father's death, so...
In the dialogue, David Ottlinger and Dan Kaufman discuss the ongoing effort to de-platform/cancel Professor Kathleen Stock for her writing and public statements on...
E. John Winner and Dan Kaufman (Electric Agora) talk about the Marx Brothers and their relationship to American Comedy. 1:30 Vaudeville, Burlesque, and Musical...