The politics of self-contradiction

I have a weakness for weak witticisms, and self-cancelling statements are a particular favourite. You can make them up pretty easily, but they never fail to make the corners of my mouth twitch. Here’s a brief selection:

All generalisation is suspect.

Hyperbole is the worst thing in the world!

Nobody has the right to criticize freedom of speech.

Sexism is just something a bunch of silly women made up.

The whole world wants to discredit my conspiracy theories.

Some may find these trite, but I rather like the way they dismantle the implicit self-justifications of a stance within a few…