Big lie

The big lie is the name of a propaganda technique and a form of argument by assertion originally coined by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, but originally explained by Plato in The Republic (at least in the European tradition), and is where an arguer states and repeats a known falsehood and treats it as if it were self-evidently true in the hopes of swaying the course of an argument in a direction that takes the big lie for granted, rather than viewing it with skepticism.
As a general rule, the most effective big lies are outrageous enough to be unbelievable, yet appeal strongly to the biases and prejudices of its listeners, and are stated in as bland and matter-of-fact terms as possible. It is sometimes even more effective to string together several big lies in a series of talking points. The power of the big lie comes from the fact that those opposed to it will simply ignore it, as the lie is so ridiculous that they are led to believe that nobody in their right mind would ever fall for it;Which is technically true, as a mind addled by hate and fear is, generally speaking, not well-disposed to viewing reality accurately. this allows normalization of the lie to gradually increase until it's too late to easily stop it.
The source for the expression comes from this passage in Chapter 10 of Mein Kampf:
==Other examples in the wild==
*Many history textbooks, especially those about the domestic history of the country where they are published for the lower schools (see Nationalism in history textbooks).
*Most assertions of conspiracy theories.
*Propaganda in Nazi Germany that blamed Jews for all of Germany's problems, e. g. Hitler's assertion that the Jews used the same technique to blame Germany's World War I loss on German Army officer 
*Soviet propaganda blaming the "bourgeoisie" for all of their problems.
*White supremacist propaganda blaming "political correctness" for all their country's problems or asserting that their critics "deny biological reality". Also, them asserting that any source which agrees with them is unimpeachably accurate.
*Right-wing propaganda labelling the left-wing as communist and vice versa (i. e. Left-wing propaganda labelling the right-wing as fascist).
*"Make America Great Again!"
*Religious fundamentalist claims of persecution, at least in First World countries. 
*The Roman Catholic Church's claims that the clergy sex abuse scandal was a problem of liberal churches.
*The idea that Donald Trump won the 2020 U.S. presidential election but it was stolen from him because of voter fraud.Dan Berman, Judge says CNN’s use of ‘Big Lie’ regarding Trump isn’t defamation. CNN, 29 July 2023.
** Trump winning the 2024 U.S. presidential election by a landslide.
*Tankies calling social democracy "social fascism".
*"Trans people are mentally ill pedophiles."
*Many claims about the woke progressive movement in America, such as that they are in opposition to science, intolerant of dissenting views, incompatible with and hostile toward the liberal values America is based on, have an entirely subjective epistemology and deny that reality is objective, see everything through the lens of identity politics, are possibly antisemitic, and believe any number of absurdities such as that bigotry is prejudice plus power, being offended makes you right, uttering words inflicts physical violence,To be fair, this is probably the critics failing to understand figurative language. and there are at least 68 distinct genders.Sounds like a cavalcade of psychological projection…
*Vladimir Putin claiming to "liberate" Ukraine from Nazis.
*Creationists in general use big lies to defend their beliefs (and often know they are lying as they do it), but Kent Hovind went so far as to accuse scientists of telling big lies when defending evolution and refuting creationism, quoting Hitler as he did so, despite this itself being the same kind of big lie Hitler told when coining the term.
*Many claims made by the netto-uyoku, such as Japanese people being unable to properly digest rice grown on foreign soil.
*Everything to come out of any incel's mouth.
==See also==
*Argument by assertion
*Argumentum ad nauseam
*Confirmation bias
*Denialism
*Illusory truth effect
*Loaded language
*Loaded question
*Propaganda
==External links==
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==Notes==
==References==
Category:Big Stuff
Category:Evaluating arguments
Category:Propaganda