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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA parable worth remembering
The donkey told the tiger, "The grass is blue."
The tiger replied, "No, the grass is green."
The discussion became heated, and the two decided to submit the issue to arbitration, so they approached the lion.
As they approached the lion on his throne, the donkey started screaming: ′′Your Highness, isn't it true that the grass is blue?"
The lion replied: "If you believe it is true, the grass is blue."
The donkey rushed forward and continued: ′′The tiger disagrees with me, contradicts me and annoys me. Please punish him."
The king then declared: ′′The tiger will be punished with 3 days of silence."
The donkey jumped with joy and went on his way, content and repeating ′′The grass is blue, the grass is blue..."
The tiger asked the lion, "Your Majesty, why have you punished me, after all, the grass is green?"
The lion replied, ′′You've known and seen the grass is green."
The tiger asked, ′′So why do you punish me?"
The lion replied, "That has nothing to do with the question of whether the grass is blue or green. The punishment is because it is degrading for a brave, intelligent creature like you to waste time arguing with an ass, and on top of that, you came and bothered me with that question just to validate something you already knew was true!"
The biggest waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who doesn't care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions. Never waste time on discussions that make no sense. There are people who, for all the evidence presented to them, do not have the ability to understand. Others who are blinded by ego, hatred and resentment, and the only thing that they want is to be right even if they arent.
When IGNORANCE SCREAMS, intelligence moves on.
Credit to: Deena Walker, Texas Democrats
ChazII
(6,205 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)Thanks for the thread TexasTowelie.
Wounded Bear
(58,662 posts)TeamProg
(6,135 posts)niyad
(113,325 posts)grantcart
(53,061 posts)The debate now is whether some people believe in the concept of what a number is.
TomSlick
(11,098 posts)Never try to teach a pig to sing. It accomplishes nothing and irritates the pig.
tclambert
(11,087 posts)you with experience."
NNadir
(33,523 posts)unblock
(52,243 posts)I agree that the normal sort of intellectual debate and argumentation is a wasted effort.
But that doesn't mean the fool can't be convinced. It just requires different tactics.
Which are typically known as "the low road".
Laugh at them. Ridicule their "arguments". Ignore them. Say things like, "bless your soul". Patronize them.
And let them know that their idiocy in one area undermines their authority in another. Remember, intelligence and expertise are highly compartmentalized. So a political fool may well be an genius at engineering or running a business or whatever. So, let them know that after hearing them say something stupid about politics, you'll have to reconsider the wisdom of using their services in their field of expertise.
They don't understand or respond to normal debate. But they do respond to peer pressure, the status that society confers on them or denies to them.
Salviati
(6,008 posts)... they may convince other fools watching, or the less foolish who may be convinced by those more foolish then them.
unblock
(52,243 posts)Martin Eden
(12,870 posts)But keeping foolish beliefs from being widely accepted is essential to avoid disastrous public policies.