The Mind Game of Playing Dumb

Playing dumb occurs when a mind game of fake lack of understanding is used as a dodge to avoid dealing with issues rationally. This is used a lot by Internet trolls.

Examples of the Mind Game of Playing Dumb

Rocky: "The argument is not between science and religion. It is between assumption and revelation."

Sandy: "What is assumption?"

Rocky: "Assumption is made-up stuff. Made-up stuff is a lie."

Sandy: "You still haven't told me what assumption is."

Rocky: "The dictionary says that an assumption is a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof."

Sandy: "That doesn't make any sense to me."

At a certain point, you realize that Sandy is playing dumb. The best way to handle this is to point out what Sandy is doing, but Sandy is deep in denialism at this point, and is resorting to mind games.

Rocky: "The difference between historical science and observational science is that historical science requires unverifiable assumptions. Historical science uses observational science as part of the process, but then it must speculate based on assumptions. You can't verify the assumptions."

Sandy: "There is no such thing as historical science and observational science. These terms are only used at the Creaton Museum."

Rocky: "In fact, these terms are common in the scientific community."

Sandy: "There is no historical science on CSI. They just look right into the past."

Rocky: "You can't do science in the past. You must do it in the present."

Sandy: "Of course you do science in the past. It takes time for light to hit your eyes. Everything that you see happened in the past."

Rocky: "Did you really say that, Sandy?"