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Condescension is good in certain cases, especially during public health epidemics. Anti-vaxxers being mocked is good, pointing out that a certain group of peopl

by kick 7y ago

Condescension is good in certain cases, especially during public health epidemics. Anti-vaxxers being mocked is good, pointing out that a certain group of people are selling the illusion of faux-privacy in a dangerous way is also good. It's pointing out that the emperor is wearing no clothes: that they're ridiculous. It may not help someone already too deep to dig themselves out, but it will probably stop at least a few people from getting on the wagon at all; no one wants to look like a fool.

iso-8859-1 7y ago
It's interesting that you bring up the emperor's clothes, because shaming people for showing their body is not something that people make convincing arguments for. Observe how countries with advanced civil rights such as Germany have more nudist beaches. Privacy is a human right, but I think it is a step too far once you ridicule people just because they don't value it as much as you do. There is nothing wrong with being "ridiculous". Who are you to judge who counts as a fool?
- orestarod 7y ago
  Everyone judges everyone, and to judge who is a fool is also something everyone does, a personal judgement that might be shared with the rest. "Who are you to judge" is the wrong phrase. "Who are you for your judgement to be taken into consideration by me" is the real meaning.
- kick 7y ago
  Do you not know the story The Emperor's New Clothes? It's a classic where I'm from. From the Wikipedia page: "The Emperor's New Clothes" (Danish: Kejserens nye klæder) is a short tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that they say is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent – while in reality, they make no clothes at all, making everyone believe the clothes are invisible to them. When the emperor parades before his subjects in his new "clothes", no one dares to say that they do not see any suit of clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as stupid. Finally a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.[1] The point isn't...whatever you're talking about, it's that the people do value it a lot, they're just shooting themselves in the foot.
loup-vaillant 7y ago
> Anti-vaxxers being mocked is good You need to be strategic about it. I've met someone with anti-vax beliefs, and pointing out her errors without mocking her worked wonders. I believe she actually changed her mind.
- CiPHPerCoder 7y ago
  That's not strategic, that's tactical. Strategic is mocking them to prevent their stupid ideas from spreading. (Public shaming creates a resistance at scale.) Tactical is breaking from the general strategy to help at an atomic unit (i.e. one person).
  - loup-vaillant 7y ago
    Indeed, I stand corrected.

by kick 7y ago

iso-8859-1 7y ago

It's interesting that you bring up the emperor's clothes, because shaming people for showing their body is not something that people make convincing arguments for. Observe how countries with advanced civil rights such as Germany have more nudist beaches. Privacy is a human right, but I think it is a step too far once you ridicule people just because they don't value it as much as you do. There is nothing wrong with being "ridiculous". Who are you to judge who counts as a fool?

orestarod 7y ago
Everyone judges everyone, and to judge who is a fool is also something everyone does, a personal judgement that might be shared with the rest. "Who are you to judge" is the wrong phrase. "Who are you for your judgement to be taken into consideration by me" is the real meaning.
kick 7y ago
Do you not know the story The Emperor's New Clothes? It's a classic where I'm from. From the Wikipedia page: "The Emperor's New Clothes" (Danish: Kejserens nye klæder) is a short tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about two weavers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes that they say is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent – while in reality, they make no clothes at all, making everyone believe the clothes are invisible to them. When the emperor parades before his subjects in his new "clothes", no one dares to say that they do not see any suit of clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as stupid. Finally a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.[1] The point isn't...whatever you're talking about, it's that the people do value it a lot, they're just shooting themselves in the foot.

loup-vaillant 7y ago

> Anti-vaxxers being mocked is good You need to be strategic about it. I've met someone with anti-vax beliefs, and pointing out her errors without mocking her worked wonders. I believe she actually changed her mind.

CiPHPerCoder 7y ago
That's not strategic, that's tactical. Strategic is mocking them to prevent their stupid ideas from spreading. (Public shaming creates a resistance at scale.) Tactical is breaking from the general strategy to help at an atomic unit (i.e. one person).
- loup-vaillant 7y ago
  Indeed, I stand corrected.