Louis
Posts: 6436
Joined: Jan. 2006
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It would appear that concern troll is concerned.
Should we be concerned by his/her concern? Does it concern us? Hmmm. Not as far as I'm concerned.
What was that nice fraud perpetrated by a poster at Sheril and Chris's blog, The Intersection? Some chap named Tom Johnson or something wasn't it? Didn't he make claims that the tone of new atheists etc was actively turning people away from science, and that he's seen it in action and could prove all these so called big named people were nothing more than mockers and scoffers? Something along those lines, IIRC. I seem to remember it was bought hook line and and sinker by Sheril, Chris and like minded folks, and touted from the heavens as proof positive that PZ et al were hurting science (or some such). Now didn't it turn out that he'd made the whole thing up? Gosh! Why yes it did. Hmmmm. I wonder why my Spidey-sense is tingling with regards to Kris. This is all so.....familiar. I also wonder, where's the evidence behind this claim of ridicule turning people off science?*
Oh that's right, there isn't any beyond shrill shrieking, anecdote and hysterical cries of "won't someone PLEASE think of the children". Maybe Kris hasn't grasped the idea of praagmatic pluralism in communication (a position I think I could genuinely defend), i.e. using the technique most appropriate to the situation. Sometimes, ridicule works, and the productive effect is rarely aimed at the target of the ridicule.
Louis
*Waits for the inevitable: "But where's the evidence that mockery works?". The problem is, I'm not sure anyone claimed it does "work", or at least perhaps that it it is working towards a different goal. Didn't Thomas Jefferson say something about ridicule and coherent propositions once?
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Bye.
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