Reply #90: Ridicule against fear?

[Dogmudgeon]

Ridicule is about the LEAST effective way to educate people.

However, it is one of the most emotionally gratifying ways to inflate one's ego.

There's also the problem addressed by Shermer's book, Why People Believe Weird Things, only Shermer himself found a "why" that reflected badly on believers while making him look good. A lot of people believe paranoid ideas because they are fearful of a world that they perceive to be beyond their control. Chemtrail lore is often part of that paranoia. But even if you were to "debunk" every popular explanation for things that go bump in the night, the fearful will find new explanations for their fears, whether scientifically verified or not.

Indignant ridicule from the scientifically elect is about as effective as dealing with a frightened child by threatening a spanking the next time s/he calls out in the night.

I also find it astounding that debunkery-by-ridicule continues as a popular pasttime when so many science enthusiasts claim to have been picked on in school themselves.

The cure for fear and ignorance involves education and understanding. Ridicule is its intellectual version of bloodletting. And the demons that haunt our world enjoy a put-down just as much as they enjoy a put-on.

--bkl