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BrewWench · 06-12-2008, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chairman Cheyco

I remember that the high school I went to was so bad that they used that stuff in their eye-wash bottles!!!

LOL!

I bet you can get people to sign a petition to "Save the trilobites! Their coral reef habitat is being destroyed!"

**Chairman Cheyco** · 06-12-2008, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrewWench

LOL!

I bet you can get people to sign a petition to "Save the trilobites! Their coral reef habitat is being destroyed!"

"Every time you drive your car you're destroying Trilobite habitat!!!!"

LOL

MrFebtober · 06-12-2008, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revvy

Well you know, that stuff is dangerous...

Mix it with the extract of Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare, boil it with some Humulus lupulus and add in some Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, or Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis, and consume enough of it, and lord knows what could happen...

Well done, good sir! <golf claps>

Evan! · 06-12-2008, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kornkob

I've never really seen that as 'being dumb'. Obscuring the real meaning of what you are saying behind technical language or technical sounding jargon is common. Getting people to agree with someone that carries themselves like an expert and uses language that makes them sound like an expert is frequently done. I'd be willing to guess that everyone here has been bamboozled by someone at one point or another and never realized it.

These 'water petition' don't really 'prove' anything about the relative intelligence of the participants. It just proves that, particularly when it costs you nothing, people are willing to take what people say at face value.

It's called gullibility. And actually, I think it does prove something here: that the rest of the stuff that this particular organization (their 'Green Party') should be taken with a grain of salt given their relative gullibility on this particular issue---it ruins their credibility. So it's not just a case of obfuscating or obscuring the real meaning through technical jargon.

MrFebtober · 06-12-2008, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kornkob

I've never really seen that as 'being dumb'. Obscuring the real meaning of what you are saying behind technical language or technical sounding jargon is common. Getting people to agree with someone that carries themselves like an expert and uses language that makes them sound like an expert is frequently done. I'd be willing to guess that everyone here has been bamboozled by someone at one point or another and never realized it.

These 'water petition' don't really 'prove' anything about the relative intelligence of the participants. It just proves that, particularly when it costs you nothing, people are willing to take what people say at face value.

It's a bit more than that, IMHO. It's beyond someone convincing a person of some non-existant threat through fancy language. These people are putting their signatures on paper for a cause they instantly believe in without even a second thought. You're right that it does not indicate lack of intelligence directly, but it is a bit troubling and revealing to see people commit, in writing, to something based on one brief sales pitch and seemingly without using any critical thinking skills at all. At the very least it illustrates how meaningly signed petitions are.

blacklab · 06-12-2008, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kornkob

I've never really seen that as 'being dumb'. Obscuring the real meaning of what you are saying behind technical language or technical sounding jargon is common. Getting people to agree with someone that carries themselves like an expert and uses language that makes them sound like an expert is frequently done. I'd be willing to guess that everyone here has been bamboozled by someone at one point or another and never realized it.

These 'water petition' don't really 'prove' anything about the relative intelligence of the participants. It just proves that, particularly when it costs you nothing, people are willing to take what people say at face value.

What it proved is that those guys are a bunch of reactionary boobs who don't check their facts, AND make 'scientific' sounding pronouncements when they have no scientific background. I think that was the point.

k1v1116 · 06-12-2008, 03:25 PM

I wonder how many people would want deoxyribonucleic acid banned if you told them is was the source of serious mutations?

**kornkob** · 06-12-2008, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacklab

What it proved is that those guys are a bunch of reactionary boobs who don't check their facts, AND make 'scientific' sounding pronouncements when they have no scientific background. I think that was the point.

There's no difference between that one and any number of other petitions, chain letters or oft repeated 'facts' that are complete bunk.

People frequently take things at face value, particularly when it costs them nothing to do so. This includes people of every political persuasion.

**the_bird** · 06-12-2008, 03:31 PM

Petitions are pretty meaningless. Once someone with a petition has gotten your attention, what percentage of the time do you say "I can't agree with that, I'm not going to sign" versus when you just sign to get out of there? Most people want to avoid confrontation, so they'll just sign without thinking too much, to escape from the situation or just because they don't want to get into a debate. You can get plenty of signatures for pretty any issue as long as you have enough people with clipboards (and it helps if they're cute

).

**kornkob** · 06-12-2008, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_bird

Petitions are pretty meaningless. Once someone with a petition has gotten your attention, what percentage of the time do you say "I can't agree with that, I'm not going to sign" versus when you just sign to get out of there? Most people want to avoid confrontation, so they'll just sign without thinking too much, to escape from the situation or just because they don't want to get into a debate. You can get plenty of signatures for pretty any issue as long as you have enough people with clipboards (and it helps if they're cute

).

That's another aspect I hadn't considered before.

And all they are doing is trolling a location of people who are predisposed to hearing the type of banter that they are speaking about.

Like going to a breast cancer fund raiser and getting signatures on a petition to end women's suffrage. Cover the meaning with some doublespeak and you'll get intelligent, well meaning people signing it.

Or getting a bunch of republican politicians to pledge support for Hugo N Frye, the unrecognized hero of the Republican party. Again-- letters of support from well meaning people for a pile of nonsense.