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I used to be a mormon, and I served a mission. People that had been exposed to the absurdity of mormonism were difficult to convert, and people that had never h
by saosebastiao 12y ago
I used to be a mormon, and I served a mission. People that had been exposed to the absurdity of mormonism were difficult to convert, and people that had never heard of mormonism were relatively simple.
Satire and sarcasm might not convince an anti-vaxxer that vaccines are good, but they might convince an uninformed person of the ridiculousness that the anti-vaxxer position is. It can stop the conversion.
- involans 12y agoSo you are saying that sarcasm is a vaccine against stupidity?
- ceejayoz 12y agoSo you are saying sarcasm causes autism?
- ptaipale 12y agoBad sarcasm surely causes narcolepsy.
- CamperBob2 12y agoIt's possible that's exactly what it is, in a cultural-transmission sense. (Suggest discussing this one, rather than reflexively downmodding. The use of sarcasm and mockery as legitimate rhetorical tools has previously been brought up by people like Sam Harris. I thought it was a pretty interesting point when I first encountered it.)
- TeMPOraL 12y agoI agree. The whole concept of memes that evolve and spread like genetic material is a useful tool (hell, that's where the 'viral' comes from). It's useful to talk about memetic immunity in individuals and groups. If sarcasm helps you defend against harmful memes, then that's exactly what it is - a vaccine.
- ArekDymalski 12y agoSo you are saying that vacancies is a scram?
- rmc 12y agoAnd if you convince the large amount of uninformed people that anti-vaxxers are ridiculus, then it's easy to pass laws that mandate vaccination for schools, it's harder for anti-vaxxers to get a platform on TV.
- ajuc 12y agoSo, satire is a vaccine?
- Jtsummers 12y agoIf we consider memes, satire and parody could be ways to prevent certain ideas from being able to take hold in a person's mind. Once you realize the absurdity of a particular viewpoint (taken to its logical extreme), it's harder to be convinced of even more moderate takes on that idea/philosophy/whatever. Consider people who grew up or lived under authoritarian regimes now living in countries like the US or UK. Seeing the current surveillance trends (well, not current it's been going on for a while), they may be less likely to consider what's happening as a positive. While those who grew up in the US or UK may have a harder time recognizing the negatives because they lack the relevant experience (and, hell, given how little of history my younger coworkers seem to know they won't even have the benefit of second-hand experience).
- ajuc 12y agoI agree and I think the anti-ACTA protests (biggest in post-soviet countries) shows exactly this. Few people in UK protested ACTA. In Poland it was the biggest protest in last decade.
- markvdb 12y agoHomeopathic party! Drink as much homeopathic agent as you can. Prosit!