Take a non-political wrong belief then. Same applies to selling sugar pills, I’m sorry, homeopathy. At least some people are earning billions with it.
Also, guarded statements such as “political beliefs can reflect negatively (...) depending on their social circle” are as close to null statements as you can reasonably get. I could substitute “can help you become an astronaut” and the statement would be correct.
I’m not sure who in their right mind would argue against “can … under certain circumstances …”-type social statements. It’s good to qualify our statements and to hedge our bets, wary of blanket generalizations, but at some point we need to stop and make some sort of stand, or we’re doing the equivalent of throwing empty chat bubbles at each other.
I don’t think that chaosmage accidently choose a political belief. Replacing it with a less controversial claim would be strawmanning the original post.
You don’t think “convincing someone that homeopathy works” is controversial enough? Are you objecting to both political and non-political beliefs, and wouldn’t that make the initial claim, you know, unfalsifiable?
For reference, the initial mention was:
I find it much easier to change people’s minds about rationality than about, say, the NSA.
As far as homeopathy goes the belief is differently controversial for different people. Convincing the average new atheist that homeopathy works is very hard. There’s identity involved. Convincing people who don’t care on the other hand is easier.
Are you objecting to both political and non-political beliefs, and wouldn’t that make the initial claim, you know, unfalsifiable?
I do think that chaosmage has experience in trying to change someone mind about the NSA. I do think that he found in his experience that it’s easier to change someone’s mind about rationality.
There nothing unfalsifiable about making that observation.
Take a non-political wrong belief then. Same applies to selling sugar pills, I’m sorry, homeopathy. At least some people are earning billions with it.
Also, guarded statements such as “political beliefs can reflect negatively (...) depending on their social circle” are as close to null statements as you can reasonably get. I could substitute “can help you become an astronaut” and the statement would be correct.
I’m not sure who in their right mind would argue against “can … under certain circumstances …”-type social statements. It’s good to qualify our statements and to hedge our bets, wary of blanket generalizations, but at some point we need to stop and make some sort of stand, or we’re doing the equivalent of throwing empty chat bubbles at each other.
I don’t think that chaosmage accidently choose a political belief. Replacing it with a less controversial claim would be strawmanning the original post.
You don’t think “convincing someone that homeopathy works” is controversial enough? Are you objecting to both political and non-political beliefs, and wouldn’t that make the initial claim, you know, unfalsifiable?
For reference, the initial mention was:
As far as homeopathy goes the belief is differently controversial for different people. Convincing the average new atheist that homeopathy works is very hard. There’s identity involved. Convincing people who don’t care on the other hand is easier.
I do think that chaosmage has experience in trying to change someone mind about the NSA. I do think that he found in his experience that it’s easier to change someone’s mind about rationality.
There nothing unfalsifiable about making that observation.