I had breakast with two local Teaparty officials who brought up a black only dinner .....

[calimary]

15. WRONG!!! ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DO take advantage of these "poor people"!!!

Take 'em! Got a bridge to nowhere you can pitch to 'em? You might even make some money off it/them. TAKE 'EM!!!!! If they'll believe satire and don't bother to look at other sources, or take in other input that shows this is satire, or that dispels the nonsense - and then they won't adjust their thinking accordingly - then TAKE 'EM. They're little more than low-hanging fruit just begging either to be picked and bitten into, or destined to fall to the ground and rot (or chewed on by rats and/or overrun by ants).

I mean - I myself saw a satire piece here on DU a few days back, that I took seriously for a few moments until I read further and considered the comments and the wisdom of others who'd already debunked it when I hadn't had the time to dig deeper. So THAT taken into account, do you think for a minute I still cling to any serious consideration of the original satire? Still gonna believe it anyway? Don't think so! I changed my views accordingly and snickered at the original satire, and at myself. These idiots don't seem able to do that - although I will assert also that I don't know how this ends. I'd be interested to see what their reaction is when presented with the fact of this source being satire.

I am MOST interested to see whether, faced with information that refutes their already-built-in beliefs, they decide to change or update their thinking a little. Or, are they SO deeply and resolutely invested in the falsehood that for whatever reason they just can't bring themselves to change or update their opinions? We already have a template for that - in the climate change deniers. And in the Barack Obama wasn't born in America department. And more. Those who continue to insist that this nation is center-"right" when, on the issues, it is repeatedly and demonstrably proven to be ANYTHING BUT. So I don't have much hope for these people. Inflexible thinking. And I guess I find myself using the word "thinking" guardedly and with hesitation - as it applies to people like these.

When you find out you're wrong, what do you do?
A) Attack or keep questioning the new information that proves you wrong?
B) Or embrace it and enlarge and update your thinking?
C) Or do you go so far as even to admit you were - or might possibly be - wrong?

I have found that the other side is rather crippled and growth-stunted on two out of three of these counts. I don't see a ONE of them, when confronted with the facts, start to change their thinking. Not ONE. They tend merely to gravitate toward exercising that term that was always used, ad nauseam, to describe what dubya did on messes like Iraq: "double down." MAN am I sick of that phrase. It's never ended well, or wisely, that I've seen anyway.