3 ms·

The conceit was rather obvious. I always find it strange when persuasive writing takes the form of fiction.

CobrastanJorji 9y ago
Parables have a rich tradition dating back pretty much as far as written things date back. The moral lesson they're trying to get across isn't so much a twist as the whole of the thing.
- edflsafoiewq 9y ago
  But there is no moral lesson here. This isn't Damon and Pythias, it's not tutelary. It's argumentative. It does not make for a good narrative alone (at least then you would know which side was able to attract the skill of an artist!), its only content is the argument. Only the argument is couched in a fictional world that allows it to avoid addressing any counter-argument altogether. The fact that it is followed by an explicit argument only makes it stranger.
kbenson 9y ago
Some people are resistant to logical argument on some topics, because of natural human tendencies. A fictional narrative tries to do an end-run around our cognitive biases by presenting a logically consistent, but still very fictional, story and then inviting comparison to real-world parallels. Since the person performing the comparison and championing each side is yourself, it's much harder to dismiss one of the views as being purposefully misrepresented, or portions being played down or up to fit the argument. The way to deal with the logical inconsistency is to reassess and admit the faults of each side (if any exist). This is fairly common in Science Fiction, and why if the author has done a good job it can often change how you think the future will be in a much more definitive way that some simple statement might.
- mannykannot 9y ago
  It is just as possible (and actually much more likely, in my experience) for fictional narratives to be used as intuition pumps, to appeal to cognitive biases and distract from the difficulties of the real-world situation and the inconsistencies, incompleteness or arbitrariness of the author's position.

Parables have a rich tradition dating back pretty much as far as written things date back. The moral lesson they're trying to get across isn't so much a twist as the whole of the thing.

edflsafoiewq 9y ago
But there is no moral lesson here. This isn't Damon and Pythias, it's not tutelary. It's argumentative. It does not make for a good narrative alone (at least then you would know which side was able to attract the skill of an artist!), its only content is the argument. Only the argument is couched in a fictional world that allows it to avoid addressing any counter-argument altogether. The fact that it is followed by an explicit argument only makes it stranger.

kbenson 9y ago

Some people are resistant to logical argument on some topics, because of natural human tendencies. A fictional narrative tries to do an end-run around our cognitive biases by presenting a logically consistent, but still very fictional, story and then inviting comparison to real-world parallels. Since the person performing the comparison and championing each side is yourself, it's much harder to dismiss one of the views as being purposefully misrepresented, or portions being played down or up to fit the argument. The way to deal with the logical inconsistency is to reassess and admit the faults of each side (if any exist). This is fairly common in Science Fiction, and why if the author has done a good job it can often change how you think the future will be in a much more definitive way that some simple statement might.

mannykannot 9y ago
It is just as possible (and actually much more likely, in my experience) for fictional narratives to be used as intuition pumps, to appeal to cognitive biases and distract from the difficulties of the real-world situation and the inconsistencies, incompleteness or arbitrariness of the author's position.