@@ -72,9 +72,9 @@
Bertrand Russell
--An Interview with Kenneth Harris
-[Jake
] I would hope that a pro-CoV "fanatic" would seem more tolerable than the Xian ones. After all we consider dogmatism one of our senseless sins, and I think that represents a lot of the attitude problems we encounter with Xian fanatics. Nonetheless anyone that gets into memetic conflict runs the risk of taking on characteristics of their opponents, and so that alone should serve as some warning to take frequent reality checks.
+[JakeSapiens
] I would hope that a pro-CoV "fanatic" would seem more tolerable than the Xian ones. After all we consider dogmatism one of our senseless sins, and I think that represents a lot of the attitude problems we encounter with Xian fanatics. Nonetheless anyone that gets into memetic conflict runs the risk of taking on characteristics of their opponents, and so that alone should serve as some warning to take frequent reality checks.
Secondly, I don't think we should try to convert everyone. I think we have developed a more practical attitude that we know CoV is not for everyone. Indeed such a PoV may give us some memetic advantages in taking a somewhat "elitist" view of ourselves. If you have made it this far and embraced the memes of the CoV, you probably ARE a generally smarter person who does appreciate intelligent rational discussion at least somewhat preferentially to emotionally wrought rhetoric. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back!
But remember this in dealing with other non-CoVers: we should try to maintain empathy even in dealing with people that we know will probably never embrace CoV. This elite feeling should not excuse you from addressing the arguments of the blind or the blinded. If you feel yourself pulling a haughty attitude with them, a little self-deprecation may be line for your memetic toolbox. Even if you know that a person may even be lost to the blindness, I bet you can still "upload" some more reasonable and rational CoV-friendly memes into their brains just by metaphorically flying under their radar. Remember that we are after minds and not bodies, and people can be of "several minds" on an issue even when they display only one. Another advantage we have is that generally we are better at going "off script" than the fundy Xians. As long as they are following their memetic program, they are VERY effective. Possibly more so than your average Virian. But the side effect of that is that if you can pull them off of their program they are generally very lost, whereas I have found that most Virians on the other hand usually enjoy these types of situations. When this happens, this is NOT the opportunity to make them feel like a dumbass as many other vindictive-type atheists may feel tempted to do. The first thing to do is to provide them with some empathy . . . like you or any other animal they need rewards for good behavior. After you have rewarded them a bit, then you can think of your next dialogue changes as you will finally have more of the memetic upper hand.
