Question of the Day #61: Responding to ridiculousness
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Are there good general guidelines for when to respond to a flimsy argument or just point out its flimsiness?Referring to my own blog again for an example, a group supporting same-sex civil unions in Colorado is using an ad campaign in which they show a cartoon dog that goes "Moo." This is to apparently make the point that homosexuals are no more bizarre than a dog that moos. (If I were gay, I think I'd be offended.) An anti-same-sex civil unions group responds by pointing out that dogs don't really moo. It seems like the biggest waste of debate energy I've ever heard of.
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Well... in this case there's a lot of political power at stake, and one of the groups is affiliated with Focus on the Family, so it's not all that remarkable.
When I think of ridiculous debates, I'm thinking more along the lines of, "Would Star Trek beat Star Wars?" or "Would KITT beat the General Lee?"
I think I've picked up some kind of mind virus from the Erisians. My current frame of mind tells me to respond to a ridiculous argument with something even more ridiculous.
Scotty would never fly in anything so stupid as a Deathstar that could be completely destroyed by lobbing a missile into its exhaust pipe. Made a good video game though.
As for the General Lee, it was a 318 c.i.d. Most muscle cars of the day could eat it for breakfast after the first 1/8 mile or so. No turbo, no Hemi, so sad. Everything looks faster on film.
I think those folks in Colorado need some serious professional marketing help.
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