Richard Haswell has used the term “the Bok Maneuver” to describe the tendency of people to respond to empirical research that does not confirm their expectations by simply saying that the research does confirm their expectations. I would like to advance the Rosin Gambit as a similar phenomenon. The Rosin Gambit is when you present a provocative title or headline, then admit that the specific title or headline’s argument is misleading or wrong, then proceed to argue as if it were true despite this admission.
Headline: “Men Are Obsolete.”
Subhead: “5 reasons we are definitely witnessing the end of men.”
First sentence: “How do I know men are finished?”
First two sentences of second paragraph: “Are men literally obsolete? Of course not, and if we had to prove that we could never win.”
First sentence of last paragraph: “When I think of the world after the end of men, I think of the world my son will inherit.”
I get that trolling for readership by writing a headline that you don’t actually want to defend is part of the deal, but sheesh. She wrote a whole book doing it!
I thought it was pretty bizarre that she was actually defending the “end of men” thing, too. When I first saw it and read the description of the book, I figured it was just a gimmick title to sell books since calling it “The Rise of Women” would draw less attention. But she’s actually been defending the premise, at Time and at Slate.