Paralipsis: “pretended omission for rhetorical effect” per the literarydevices.net site.
Para ejemplo: “It’s not that I care about you bringing a cat to live with us. I’ll just remind you of my violent allergic reaction to all things feline.”
Unskilled paralipsis usually includes a phrase very similar to “I’m not saying that … “.
Skilled paralipsis doesn’t.
Matt Taibbi brings all this up in a context ripped from today’s headlines.
What happened was that Joe Biden, in a moment of bland generic Hispandering, played the song ‘Despacito’ on his Walkman record player in front of an audience. (Remember Al Gore and the Macarena? Same exact shit.)
Some bad boy somewhere changed the song Biden played to NWA’s “Fuck Tha Police“, and tweeted out that version.
Trump re-tweeted the fake doctored version with one line of caption.
“What’s this all about?”
It was a brilliant troll and a fine example of paralipsis. Taibbi hates on himself for laughing so hard, but anyone with any sense of humor was doing the same.
Anyone with a sense of humor does not include the nominally liberal media, nor even the self-appointed champions of progressivist thought at places like TYT. Their sober outrage at this lying deceitful manipulation is almost funny itself.
I just wish Biden would have picked Ice Cube straight outta Compton as his running mate, instead of a prosecuting attorney.
Taibbi on Paralipsis came very near the beginning of the yesterday’s edition of his podcast, co-hosted with Katie Halper, called Useful Idiots.
I listen to this pod regularly, but this was my favorite episode ever for many reasons. Well worth the two hours while you’re doing other things. My respect for Greenwald grows almost every time I hear him speak at length.
Glenn Greenwald on Reality Winner Controversy and Asking Trump to Pardon Snowden | Useful Idiots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elEInqRzLgk