Re: [Phys-l] Responding to a DJ about science

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

> > As a sage once said, "The trouble with wrestling with pigs is that
> > both of you get dirty, but only the pig enjoys it."
>
> That's a clever saying, but it misses the point.
>
> On 07/26/2010 07:58 PM, Hodges, Laurent [PHYSA] wrote:
> > > It will probably be hopeless to argue with such a nut.
>
> It is or it isn't, depending on what you are hoping for.
>
> Remember the first rule of debating:  Your goal is not to
> convince the opposing debater;  your goal is to persuade
> the audience.  The same rule applies in the courtroom:  The
> opposing lawyers are never going to concede.  Your goal is
> not to convince them;  your goal is to persuade the judge.
>
> The DJ seems to understand this.  He is not addressing you but
> is directly addressing the audience when he tells them to
> "ignore the fool."
The question is how do you engage him in a debate.  As a DJ he doesn't have
to accept a debate on his show.  Could he be enticed to debate in a local
university?  The man has the microphone, and does not have to pass it to
you.

There is a second problem with a debate.  People who have specific paradigms
strongly resist changing them.  Psychologists know that when you try to show
that something is wrong logically, the person often becomes even more firm
in their opinion.  One way to harden an opinion is by challenging it.  So
unless the debate can show that the man is ridiculous and that he makes many
foolish mistakes, such a debate may harden the opinions of his listeners
rather than changing them.  Proof by contradiction never works with low
level thinkers.

An interesting illustration of this is convincing people that smoking is
dangerous.  They found that presenting evidence, and even showing blackened
lungs had not much effect on smoking.  But when it was presented as dirty
and antisocial, the commercials had a much bigger effect.  Ridicule is
sometimes much more effective than logical evidence, unfortunately.

Remember that Reagan was challenged a number of times about his stories
because they often were inaccurate and the ending was not what actually
happened.  He would reply "it sounds true".  People pay much more attention
to what sounds true by their beliefs rather than what evidence shows.
Reagan should have know better because he was an actor and should have known
that actors can convince themselves of things that are not true.  This
happened to my grandfather, an actor.  He told a funny story about himself
that he actually believed it.  My grandmother once said "You know it did not
happen".  He got indignant and insisted that it did.  But the next day he
admitted she might be right.

So one must use ideas from education research to convince people.  But
unfortunately that might be possible with this DJ.  He can just refuse to
debate.  One could then try to get his most ridiculous comments in the
press, but then he would claim persecution by the "liberal" press.  Unless
you have a good plan, there is not much that can be done.

I didn't catch the name of the DJ.  There are lots out there like him on
music and talk shows.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX