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I strongly agree with one of Dawkins’s most important points, the effectiveness of the reductio ad absurdum as a rhetorical strategy. If you want to persuade p

I strongly agree with one of Dawkins’s most important points, the effectiveness of the reductio ad absurdum as a rhetorical strategy. If you want to persuade people, then you need to meet them where they are and adopt their way of thinking. Accept their premises and worldview, and show that it leads to bizarre, false consequnces.

Bud 4y ago
You think the average Glenn Beck viewer is going to sit still while you "show" this, or "show" anything, and then change their views based on what you have "shown"? If so, you have been asleep since the Reagan Administration while this fascism has slowly taken hold.
- mistersquid 4y ago
  > You think the average Glenn Beck viewer is going to sit still while you "show" this, or "show" anything, and then change their views based on what you have "shown"? From a rationalist point of view, this observation can seem mere provocation rather than an objective assertion. From first-hand experience, at least one “Glenn beck viewer” refused to meet rational argument even halfway. I analyzed one of Tucker Carlson’s assertions step by step, coming to an obviously absurd conclusion. My interlocutor responded that she didn’t appreciate my using “tricks” when I talked with her. To the irrational, rationality is a repertoire of tricks.