It saddens me that your life is so bleak that you almost hope the world will end. Particularly over something so comparatively minor as obviously wrong ideas being acknowledged as obviously wrong.
I am afraid I still don't understand how you would like obviously wrong ideas treated. I see three possibilities.
1) We can acknowledge that they're out there, and that they're obviously wrong. The down side of this is that obviously wrong and silly are basically the same thing, so I don't see any way to do this without at least implying that we think the ideas are silly even if we don't actually say the word. The up side is that it doesn't promote the obviously wrong idea, and it comments on social happenings that people notice and care about.
2) We can acknowledge that they're out there, and pretend to take them seriously. The downside of this is that 1) it's dishonest and 2) it might convince people who otherwise wouldn't have been taken in by the obviously wrong ideas. Since people so convinced have been quitting their jobs and squandering their savings (a situation perhaps more serious in the US, which has a ...decidedly inferior social safety net) this strikes me as a bad outcome. The up side, I guess, is that it can't appear to be impolite.
3) We can ignore the obviously wrong ideas, the way we would ignore out-of-bounds social behavior by someone who can't be expected to know better. The down side of this is that treating a grown man like an autistic child seems rude and condescending. The upside, of course, is that it is deniable. One might honestly not have noticed the obviously wrong idea and thus cannot be called out for being condescending.
Perhaps I have overlooked one or more possible responses, or perhaps I am mistaken about the balance of up and down sides here, but this is how I see it so far.
In the meantime, hopefully in a couple of days the whole thing will have died down again--these things have usually tapered off pretty fast after all the other non(uh, what's the plural of "Apocalypse"?), ah, non-events.
I extend sympathy about the gardening. I am trying to stun and weaken my grass by planting a tree or two each spring to shade it out, but I'm very much a once-in-a-while gardener myself. And good luck with the computer tinkering.
no subject
I am afraid I still don't understand how you would like obviously wrong ideas treated. I see three possibilities.
1) We can acknowledge that they're out there, and that they're obviously wrong. The down side of this is that obviously wrong and silly are basically the same thing, so I don't see any way to do this without at least implying that we think the ideas are silly even if we don't actually say the word. The up side is that it doesn't promote the obviously wrong idea, and it comments on social happenings that people notice and care about.
2) We can acknowledge that they're out there, and pretend to take them seriously. The downside of this is that 1) it's dishonest and 2) it might convince people who otherwise wouldn't have been taken in by the obviously wrong ideas. Since people so convinced have been quitting their jobs and squandering their savings (a situation perhaps more serious in the US, which has a ...decidedly inferior social safety net) this strikes me as a bad outcome. The up side, I guess, is that it can't appear to be impolite.
3) We can ignore the obviously wrong ideas, the way we would ignore out-of-bounds social behavior by someone who can't be expected to know better. The down side of this is that treating a grown man like an autistic child seems rude and condescending. The upside, of course, is that it is deniable. One might honestly not have noticed the obviously wrong idea and thus cannot be called out for being condescending.
Perhaps I have overlooked one or more possible responses, or perhaps I am mistaken about the balance of up and down sides here, but this is how I see it so far.
In the meantime, hopefully in a couple of days the whole thing will have died down again--these things have usually tapered off pretty fast after all the other non(uh, what's the plural of "Apocalypse"?), ah, non-events.
I extend sympathy about the gardening. I am trying to stun and weaken my grass by planting a tree or two each spring to shade it out, but I'm very much a once-in-a-while gardener myself. And good luck with the computer tinkering.