Monday, September 13, 2010

     Stephen Law has done a blog entry about pseudo-profundity, which he apparently intends to include in a future book. He should include another section.

Mock your critics

It's easy, formulaic, and likely to impress your audience. When someone starts critically examining the position you espouse say that he "believes in alien abductions" or "is a flat-earther." The more inflammatory and baseless the claim the better. Your critic is likely to exhibit an emotional reaction to being ridiculed on the basis of a lie. At this point, the audience will see him only as a hothead and will not listen to anything he has to say. Even in the unlikely event that the critic "keeps his cool," the audience may take your charge at face value and still disregard anything your critic says. You will appear to be wise and patient dealing with someone who has nothing of consequence to say.


     That is part of the technique used by the pseudo-profound. Mr. Law would do a disservice not to warn people about it. It's possible he simply overlooked it. So I have taken the liberty of giving him a comment to include it.

Note: Edited for typographical errors.

No comments: