PZ Myers, of Pharyngula, writes a very good entry at his blog regarding a Salon Article entitled “Idiot America” and he doesn't even have to fluff the bit out with the tidbit that the title apparently comes from Green Day.
Doesn't matter; it's about the rampant idiocy being broadcast around the country, and the anti-intellectualism seeping into America under the guise of 'fairness', 'balance', and 'intuition' .
Implicit in his article is refutation of the aggravating notion that experts merely hold opinions, and another's opinion is just as relevant; I've experienced this myself on a professional basis.
As he points out, reality isn't subject to a vote; as Opus once remarked, “when 10 million people do a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing”
PZ's final graf is the best:
You would be surprised at how much email is sent to me telling me to stop being so derisive, that harsh language and ridicule turn people off and repel the very ones we're trying to persuade. My reply is like the one above; by refusing to ridicule the ridiculous, by watering down every criticism into a mannered circumlocution, we have created an environment where idiots thrive unchallenged. We have a twit for a president because so many people made apologies for his ludicrous lack of qualifications—we need more people unabashedly pointing out fools.
Harsh language and ridicule? I'm totally on board, PZ! The totally idiotic deserve what they get, and it's especially funny to do it with sarcasm and satire, when they don't understand it.
Funny thing is, for someone so smart, PZ fails to realize that all of those emailing him about his language are... what's the word... oh yeah.
ReplyDeleteRight.
Your opinions and believes may be sent to you by define revelation and you know them to be pure and incontrovertible. What good does that knowledge do you if your means of expression is so crass and annoying that no one will listen to, much less accept, your incredible wisdom?
All this kind of rhetoric does is add butresses to the belief of many in the country that a lot of the left is a bunch of pompous, know-it-alls who don't give a hoot about normal, day-to-day things. Perhaps I am a member of the "totally idiotic" (though I think perhaps you'd be willing to concede this is not the case), but it seems to me that there is likely some middle ground between rants and waterdown well-mannered circumlocution. That's your target zone.
Just a thought.
Screw the bloody middle ground! I don't want to hear about how if we can just reason with these folks in power, maybe they'll come around to our way of thinking. They are never going to, because they are a bastard bunch of rapacious, child eating dogs, and they will use whatever tactics they can to grab more and more for the "have a lot" crowd. They don't care normal day-to-day things! They exist to cheat me out of the tiny portion that I might have coming me. It's high time for rants, and not just a little noise, but full bore, mad as hell screaming! The power heads in charge need to know that there is a significant group of people who are so whizzed off that it's making them crazy. They can not understand or empathize with my "normal" life, so fuck them. It's time to call them what they are. Rats in silk clothing. Turds sitting on fine china. Why mince words about the fact that the nation is being sold down the river?
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