~kjs
Tim reflected:
>Okay, now that our Mormon friend is gone (or at least withdrawn into the
>shadows for a moment) its time to look at how the list fared in this last
>little exchange and where it was we went wrong. First the stats:
>
>CoVers won over to Mormonism: 0
>Mormons won over to atheism: 0
>
>"Not bad" you might say. But given the intellectual might amassed here, a
>tie is as bad as a loss and just as embarassing considering the opposition.
>Did we even convince our Mormon friend to, if not change his beliefs, at
>least re-examine them in a memetic light? (Thus planting a seed that might
>grow into awareness somewhere down the line.) No, not in the very least.
>He left us as ignorant as he arrived. And why? Yes, /why?/
>
>For all the intellegence together gathered here, y'alls social skills are
>sadly lacking.
>
>Would you host an open house, invite in strangers, and then attack them as
>they came throught the front door? I doubt it. But we feel compelled to do
>the same here. And with a vengence.
>
>The reason the Mormons can knock on doors and get converts--and we frankly
>can't--is because they understand the act of "conversion"--and we DON'T. A
>simple knowledge every religion has and that we seem to be wholy ignorant
>of. (And despite the crucial role it plays in the spreading of memes
>generally). They understand that people are more likely to adopt ideas that
>come from someone like them (homophily) and that adoption has as much, if
>not more, to do with a subjective evaluation of those who host the memes, as
>with the content of the memes themselves. [1]
>
>So what did our friend find when he came through our doorway? Smiles?
>Friendly, likable people who he wanted to spend time with? People who would
>make him think, "Gee, what have they got and how can I get some?!?" I think
>not. What he found was a nest of argumentative, highly self-rightous,
>borish ninnys who were more intent in proving him wrong than finding our
>where he was coming from or how he got there. The perfect receipe to insure
>that *NO* memes would be transmitted to him, whatsoever. If "theism is
>mental inbreeding", then our display was nothing short of a "philisophical
>circle jerk".
>
>The religious folk will contiue to gain numbers, and the strength that comes
>with it, because they understand things that the atheists don't: that it is
>easier to change the mind of a friend than that of an enemy; that facts are
>not as important as impressions when making an adoption decision [2]; and
>that niceness does, in fact, count after all. True, our Mormon friend may
>have come here looking for a fight. But the fact that he found one here is
>something we must all take responsiblity for.
>
>Did we want to teach him and show him the truth? Or simply enjoy the heady
>rush that comes from being so very, very "right" while another is so
>hopelessly "wrong"? If the latter, we have excelled beyond the wildest of
>expectations. If the former, however,...
>
>...well, a tie counts as a loss in this league, team.
>
>-Prof. Tim
>
>[1] E. M. Rogers (83)
>[2] ibid.
>
>
>
>
>
>