11 April

The Argument to Moderation, also known as the Golden Mean Fallacy. 'Everything in Moderation'. In this extreme time in history, people feel that the truth 'must lie somewhere in the middle'. In politics, food, exercise, immigration - you name it. In politics it's sometimes used as "The Overton Window", to persuade people into voting for what they see as 'the sensible centre'. It's hard to accept, because it seems the sensible way forward to people living in extreme times. But it's a trap, and a well known one at that, going back to those clever Ancient Greeks, who saw through it. I bang on about moderation because I don't like living in extreme times, and this isn't the way out of them. And it's also just interesting to understand all the many faces of rhetoric - the art of persuasion, the ways people are persuaded to act.