The Gish Gallop

Sandra Dunham

Have you ever been overwhelmed by a blustering, argumentative oaf who shouts down any opposing viewpoint and spews so much information that you have no time to hear, evaluate or understand it? I had one such encounter recently with someone who supports Canada becoming the 51^st state.

The pieces of information I gathered from his diatribe were sometimes erroneous, sometimes partly true, mostly unprovable, and occasionally irrelevant. However, they came at me so quickly and in such a disorganized fashion that I had no response. Initially I felt defeated.

After describing this to another individual, I was informed that there is actually a term for this: The Gish Gallop,  “a rhetorical technique in which a person in a debate attempts to overwhelm an opponent by presenting an excessive number of arguments, with no regard for their accuracy or strength, with a rapidity that makes it impossible for the opponent to address them in the time available. Gish galloping prioritizes the quantity of the galloper’s arguments at the expense of their quality.” It was enlightening just knowing that this had a name and is considered a technique used by people with weak arguments.

I like to enter a dialogue with the intent of learning. I am open to hearing what others believe it would be like should Canada become the 51^st state, if for no other purpose than to ease my worry. I understand that others have different viewpoints than I do and I am willing to listen and consider their points of view. In this case however, the intent was not to provide me with information or even informed opinion. The purpose was to bully me into submission. Regretfully this is exactly the impact it had.

However, in the future, I will simply use the advice given by Mehdi Hasan to beat the Gish Gallop: Call it out by name, saying “This is a strategy called the Gish Gallop.” Do not be fooled by the flood of nonsense you have just heard. Listen to this great interview with Hasan to hear his other suggestions should you find yourself in this situation.