crashfrog writes:
So, if Popoff has been regularly drubbed by a hundred exposures of his misdirections and frauds, that's enough to convince a few people that he's for real.
More than a few, I fear.
I think you've put your finger on a major phenomenon, a twist on the old bromide that the enemy of my enemy is my friend: "Beliefs questioned by those who question mine are probably true."
So, unsurprisingly, we see evangelicals embracing bizarre altnerative histories, herbalist quackery and other pseudoscience, taco miracles, conspiracy theories, etc. As we have seen so many times here at EvC, these beliefs and oppositions are invariably reflexive and without any critical analysis, each merely another flavor of "If the godless secularists oppose it, it must be good and true." And like some weird cognitive trial by Kafka, the very lack of evidence becomes a clincher: a total lack of evidential support proves the truth is being suppressed. It is a thought disorder that endangers us all.
One of the most regrettable examples is the evangelical community's hateful response to the environmental movement. Now that some more thoughtful evangelicals have been persuaded that the godly and the godless alike benefit from a stable climate and a healthful environment--and even that their own scriptures tell them to be good stewards of the earth--they are being accused of being traitors to their cause.
It is, as I think Pogo once said, a viscous circle. I wish I knew how to break it.
Real things always push back.-William James
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