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Is there a phrase that describes the process of taking something one thinks is bad - here, Firefox extensions being disabled - and searching for the most egregi

Is there a phrase that describes the process of taking something one thinks is bad - here, Firefox extensions being disabled - and searching for the most egregious possible negative consequence that might have occurred (here, someone being murdered), and then using that as a hypothetical? The goal is obviously to try to increase the emotional weight of the argument against... whatever... but I'm seeing this demilogical construction used more and more in the wild and would like to know its name.

mackrevinack 5y ago
its mainly because saying "someone could have gotten a slap on the wrist because of this mistake" isnt really worth mentioning
klysm 5y ago
Is it not useful to consider the envelop of possibilities from a widespread outage like that?
djbusby 5y ago
Might be this one? "Reductio ad absurdum" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum Or "Logical Extreme" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_extreme https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_extreme
avar 5y ago
In a word: hyperbole or adynaton.
Dylan16807 5y ago
> searching for the most egregious possible negative consequence that might have occurred On the one hand, stretching consequences is bad. On the other hand, thinking about a "one in a million" consequence isn't stretching when something affects a million people. Maybe that example is closer to "one in a billion" or higher? We can hope so.
wolverine876 5y ago
Hyperbole? I agree with your sentiment, but it's been the 'Internet rant' rhetoric for decades IME. Find a HN thread, with a moderate number of comments, without it. IMHO, such comments are so tired, poisonous, and add so little that if I were king of HN, I would ban them. They may be hard to define, but 'no hyperole' is a start.
- jeltz 5y ago
  > Find a HN thread, with a moderate number of comments, without it. That is quite the hyperbole and under your own rules you would be banned.
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    I don't think it is an exaggeration.

mackrevinack 5y ago

its mainly because saying "someone could have gotten a slap on the wrist because of this mistake" isnt really worth mentioning

klysm 5y ago

Is it not useful to consider the envelop of possibilities from a widespread outage like that?

djbusby 5y ago

Might be this one? "Reductio ad absurdum" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum Or "Logical Extreme" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_extreme https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_extreme

avar 5y ago

In a word: hyperbole or adynaton.

Dylan16807 5y ago

> searching for the most egregious possible negative consequence that might have occurred On the one hand, stretching consequences is bad. On the other hand, thinking about a "one in a million" consequence isn't stretching when something affects a million people. Maybe that example is closer to "one in a billion" or higher? We can hope so.

wolverine876 5y ago

Hyperbole? I agree with your sentiment, but it's been the 'Internet rant' rhetoric for decades IME. Find a HN thread, with a moderate number of comments, without it. IMHO, such comments are so tired, poisonous, and add so little that if I were king of HN, I would ban them. They may be hard to define, but 'no hyperole' is a start.

jeltz 5y ago
> Find a HN thread, with a moderate number of comments, without it. That is quite the hyperbole and under your own rules you would be banned.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  I don't think it is an exaggeration.