Why are smart people fooled

[CitronBleu]

Hi Seneca,

I am not sure I understand your argument ; this is you arguing your case to a sceptic ?

Could you please reformulate your statement ?

From my experience, the most effective argument to raise eyebrows is the legal channel : point out the prevailing hypocrisy in regard to judicial proceedings as they relate to terrorist crimes.

Emphasise these events are not solely acts (deeds, or something that has occurred), as portrayed by information media, but criminal acts and admonish your interlocutor to ask himself or herself if he or she considers terror acts crimes.

Your interlocutor will likely agree.

Now that your interlocutor has recognised the true nature of terrorist crimes, turn his or her attention to the topic and role of eyewitnesses in criminal cases, and enquire your interlocutor to offer his or her opinion on whether he or she believes in the necessity of establishing testimonial evidence in criminal cases.

Your interlocutor has now experienced a thought.

et voilà.

[Seneca]

Hi Seneca,

I am not sure I understand your argument ; this is you arguing your case to a sceptic ?

Could you please reformulate your statement ?

Thanks CitronBleu, I have reformulated it. It is an argument I consider using in arguing my case to smart people that are being fooled by the media. It acknowledges the outrage they feel toward the people they consider terrorists. I hope this would make it less likely that they would focus their outrage on you.


"OK, I admit that because of my critical attitude regarding the media, there is a chance that when a real terrorist attack happens I wouldn't believe it. But that would still not be a bad thing. The victims of terrorism and their families are not helped by our belief in them. Disbelieving the terrorist attack wouldn't be a bad thing because by disbelieving the terrorist's actions you take away their power, and you thwart their objectives in a direct way. By trying to convince others it is real you are actually helping the terrorists. "

Maybe other people can improve on this.

[TheRideNeverEnds]

I don't think even the most perfect argument would prevent people from getting unreasonably angry with you at first. This is a matter of emotions getting in the way of someone's capacity to think rationally, not a matter of having insufficient evidence or presenting a weak argument. But these emotional outbursts don't last forever. If your skin is thick enough, you might get a chance to reason with them after they've calmed down. I was able to convince both my friends and my parents to watch September Clues this way. It didn't change their worldview much as far as I'm aware, but it was still convincing enough for them that they took back their words and apologized for calling me crazy. I'm glad I had these discussions with them in the end, but they were stressful as fuck and it took all my strength to stay calm.

My advice would be to not get into discussions like these with anyone you don't care a great deal about.