How to talk to complete idiots Three basic options. Choose wisely, lest you go totally insane ...

[Triana]

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Friday, September 25, 2009

There are three basic ways to talk to complete idiots.

The first is to assail them with facts, truths, scientific data, the commonsensical obviousness of it all. You do this in the very reasonable expectation that it will nudge them away from the ledge of their more ridiculous and paranoid misconceptions because, well, they're facts, after all, and who can dispute those?

Why, idiots can, that's who. It is exactly this sort of logical, levelheaded appeal to reason and mental acuity that's doomed to fail, simply because in the idiotosphere, facts are lies and truth is always dubious, whereas hysteria and alarmism resulting in mysterious undercarriage rashes are the only things to be relied upon.

Examples? Endless. You may, for instance, attempt to explain evolution to an extreme fundamentalist Christian. You may offer up carbon dating, the fossil record, glaciers, any one of 10,000 irrefutable proofs. You may even dare to talk about the Bible as the clever, completely manufactured, man-made piece of heavily politicized, massively edited, literary myth-making it so very much is, using all sorts of sound academic evidence and historical record.

You are, of course, insane beyond belief to try this, but sometimes you just can't help it. To the educated mind, it seems inconceivable that millions of people will choose rabid ignorance and childish fantasy over, say, a polar bear. Permafrost. Rocks. Nag Hammadi. But they will, and they do. Faced with this mountain of factual obviousness, the bewildered fundamentalist will merely leap back as if you just jabbed him with a flaming homosexual cattle prod, and then fall into a swoon about how neat it is that angels can fly. . . .

MORE...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/09/25/notes092509.DTL&feed=rss.mmorford

[orpupilofnature57]

1. All those facts and data, would make their little pinheads implode.

Plus it really brings out the medulla area on red-necks.

[BlooInBloo]

2. There's no such thing as explaining something to an idiot. That's why they're called "idiots"....

Key graf:

"That is, you work around them, ignore them completely, disregard the rants and the spittle and the misspelled protest signs and the fervent prayers for apocalypse on Fox News. Complete refusal to take the fringe nutballs even the slightest bit seriously is the only way to make true progress."

[Triana]

8. Too bad the lame$tream media doesn't take that advice. They get far too much profit and

viewership (and help perpetuate the ignorance and idiocy) by patronizing the f*cking idiots and constantly giving them a forum. People are dying because of it - and the media is at least partly to blame because they WON'T ignore the idiots - instead they hold them up as "the majority" and put them on as talk show hosts or guests.

Eegghh.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Uh... They're mostly journalism majors. 'Nuff said.

[Triana]

11. and they got their talking points and propaganda manifesto from their corprat taskmasters. n/t

[Thickasabrick]

3. I adore this man. Did you catch his column talking about SFgate

letting him go then rehiring him as a "freelance" writer. He now is on Cobra and going through what many in the country are going through. Basically, they did that to screw him out of his benefits.

Glad he's still there and yes, thought this was one of his best. I choose his last option, I just ignore altogether.

[Triana]

7. I didn't see that! DAMN what a shame because I love him too..

...sounds like they really shit on him. BASTARDS!

I'm HELLA glad he's still there. He's absolutely one of my favorite writers.

[opihimoimoi]

4. Impossible, they are trapped by Ignorance and lack of education/thinking...its almost IMPOSSIBLE

to enter their minds using LOGIC and REASON....MY

MYOPIC

[lapfog_1]

5. When confronted with facts, the complete idiot

suddenly finds a need to dig the ear wax out of both ears as demonstrated here:

[Triana]

10. ...or they initiate a distraction from the subject at hand ...

...that's one the media and other abusers are great at. Those ones are EVIL, manipulative, idiots. When you end up debating about something that has nothing to do with what the original issue was, they've won.

[RKP5637]

6. THANK YOU!!! EXCELLENT!!!

So correct, intelligence, logic and facts are useless with these delusional creeps and thugs.