Occupatio

Occupatio is a bastard of a Flame War tool because it provides absolutely nowhere for the victim to hide. The word refers to a rhetoric technique in a debate or trial whereby the speaker would predict his opponent's behavior/argument before they'd made it. This prevented their opponent from pursuing that line of action. If they do pursue that line of action, then they seem like the mindless puppets of the original speaker.

In a Flame War, this serves a similar function.

	“	Prima: You stupid Furry. Secunda: You just can't argue rationally, can you? You haven't got any originality left at all. Prima You're a stupid Furry, plus you can't help but respond to all of my posts. You've got a compulsive need. That's why you're such a good lol-cow.	„

If Secunda responds, she proves that she's nothing more than Prima's lol-cow. If she doesn't respond, then Prima has succeeded in silencing Secunda and her stupid argument.

There is only one way to counter the Occupatio technique, and that is to respond with, "Cool story, bro." Using the example above:

	“	Prima: You stupid Furry. Secunda: You just can't argue rationally, can you? You haven't got any originality left at all. Prima: You're a stupid Furry, plus you can't help but respond to all of my posts. You've got a compulsive need. That's why you're such a good lol-cow. Secunda: ... That's a cool story, bro.	„

As you can see, Secunda has succeeded in deflecting Prima's attempt at Occupatio by devaluing his opponent's statement without giving Prima anything to rebuke.

See also

• In before X
• Canon

External Links

• An attempt to counter the Occupatio

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