Ars TechnicaThe key to fighting pseudoscience isn’t mockery—it’s empathy
Evidence shows that shoving data in peoples’ faces doesn’t work to change minds.
Clinton Anderson SwordForHire@arstechnica Why do we need to change minds?
Let people be wrong, and let them suffer the consequences. Fk em
Pop Justy 
@ClintonAnderson @arstechnica Because rarely is it the perpetrator that suffers. I know no child born blind by rubella that chose that outcome.
It’s easy to be dismissive. But letting them be to their own self destructive means, hardly means it is only the misguided that pay the price.
@pop_justy @arstechnica Do you think you're ever going to "stamp out" Anti-vaxxers?
Good luck
@ClintonAnderson @arstechnica That’s not the point. There’s never a stamping out. It’s always uphill.
That’s the entire point. With democracy, there’s always people wanting to power grab. With freedom, there’s always people wanting to enslave. With knowledge there’s always people wanting to indoctrinate.
Existence isn’t a spectator sport.
@pop_justy @arstechnica Thanks
Lots of people use Screen Readers and Camel Case makes Hashtags MUCH easier to translate.
Cheers eh
Kellic Tiger 
@ClintonAnderson @arstechnica because it impacts society. See anti-vaxxers as a perfect example of that. By having people not vaccinate against easily avoidable things we allow them to gain a foothold again in society. Measles as one example. 2019 was ridiculously bad for measel outbreaks this shouldn't even be a f****** thing anymore. And before you say well they deserve it..... A small child doesn't have the capability of making that decision nor does immunocompromised people.
@KellicTiger @arstechnica There have been Anti-vaxxers as long as there have been vaccines.
No amout of engagement, one way or the other, has got rid of them.
I prefer to dismiss them. I'd like to see them, by way of example, unemployed.
@KellicTiger @arstechnica Lemme provide a for-instance... An attempt to empathize with anti-science to change minds.
The "debate" between Bill Nye (The Science Guy) and that idiot Creationist, con artist, wife beater, tax-dodger, who built a fake boat, from Australia.
All that happened was, The Grifters income went WAAAAAAY up.
It did far more harm than good.
It would have been better if Bill had said "No, fuck that guy, I'm not elevating his idiocy with my presence"
dennisaurus@ClintonAnderson @KellicTiger @arstechnica This wasn't my understanding. Ham may have claimed donations for the Ark project went up but it's been in financial trouble the whole time.
The debate went well for Nye; even other creationists chastised Ham's poor performance.
P.S. a post on my sadly-neglected blog made at the time in the subject.
@dfrancis @KellicTiger @arstechnica
Some people love to point to The Ark Encounter and say "It's in financial trouble"
And yet, here we are years later and not only is it still here, it's being expanded.
All that debate did is elevate Ham and his nonsense.
@ClintonAnderson @KellicTiger @arstechnica What I am seeing on Google says the project is nowhere near meeting its projections and the economic boon promised to the nearby town never happened. The only ones saying different are Answers In Genesis. This link is pretty typical of the reporting.
https://rightingamerica.net/ark-encounter-not-sinking-but-not-close-to-living-up-to-projections/
@dfrancis @KellicTiger @arstechnica It's open today... It'll be open tomorrow.
The debate ONLY helped the grifter
@ClintonAnderson @KellicTiger @arstechnica Sorry but the evidence doesn't really support that. Ark Encounter will be "open" as long as AIG exists because closing it would admit defeat. Are you saying AE wouldn't even exist if Nye hadn't debated Ham? We both know that's not true.
Deb4+ aka Deborah DT 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️Because WE all suffer the consequences?
@DeborahForPlus @arstechnica Do we?
Flat Earthers have zero impact on me....
That's cute but QAnon, MAGA and anti vaccine folks have serious impacts. (And yes QAnon and MAGA impact science, for example, young earth vs climate change and "pharmaceutical companies own doctors" (versus actually owning politicians)...
@DeborahForPlus @arstechnica Only because we platform them
Alex Tellez@arstechnica...and some people still wouldn't believe the truth even if it bit them in the ass
Ijaz@arstechnica not just for fighting pseudoscience, a friendly constructive educational approach needs to be taken on all such polarising topics.
Ada Hashtag@arstechnica I thought this article was almost there but in the end I came off with the impression that the author still struggled with looking down on people they've put into the pseudoscience category.
Frankenstein is about this same idea, that we can look down on discredited scientific theories as if it should have been obvious but be stuck chasing a dead concept ourselves and wondering why it's not adding up.
@arstechnica I agree that what's needed is empathy. I grew up only slowly coming to understand that my mother's decision for me to not receive any vaccinations probably wasn't the best as I developed my own independent world view.
It wasn't until later that I developed the understanding that she was predisposed towards those narratives by the medical trauma surrounding my birth, where a doctor overconfidently declared I would not be born alive and scheduled for me to be aborted.
iSpaceMonki@arstechnica empathy doesn’t always work either. Some people are so traumatized that they get stuck thinking they’re a shaman and everything has a “vibe”.
Ultrasquid@arstechnica A few months ago, the creator of "Birds aren't Real" (a meme conspiracy theory) did a TED talk about his own experiences, and came to the exact same conclusion. Conspiracy Theories arise from loneliness, and a need for a community. Mockery and alienation drives them deeper down the rabbit hole.
AgentMindStorm (Deactivated)@arstechnica This is a topic I found very interesting when researching anti-vaxxers for a project a few years ago!
The best way to get through to them is not data or low rates of risk. It's to show them pictures of children who are suffering from vaccine-preventable diseases.
It makes sense too. If you join in on anti-science beliefs, it was probably for an emotional reason, not a logical one. The best way to get to them is still emotion!
@arstechnica "“To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” -Thomas Paine"
Or if you prefer Asimov, "you can't reason someone out of something they didn't reason themselves into".
It's not exactly news. But sometimes you have to fight even when the battle seems hopeless. A great man once said lost causes are the ones worth fighting for. 😎
Brian Pierce MD@arstechnica
Analagous to #motivationalinterviewing
#youarenotsosmart podcast covers these issues well
#smartpolitics podcast too.
Analagous to #motivationalinterviewing
#youarenotsosmart podcast covers these issues well
#smartpolitics podcast too.
sidb@arstechnica @lisamelton You just proved your own lesson—by failing to take it yourself. My emotional reaction to being told in a needlessly confrontational and skewed manner that I’m “shoving data in people’s faces” instead of “telling the truth” doesn’t make me want to listen to you. 🤦