I wonder if the right to freedom of speech is becoming functionally obsolete. If you break it into its parts and examine it, there isn't much to it anymore.
There are plenty of professional pundits who are happily taking sides on TV, radio, blogs, in newspapers, and in books. But most consumers of such opinions are true believers of one side or the other. Freedom of speech is somewhat useless if all it does is reinforce your existing viewpoints. And if all the media serves to do is give you a steady stream of biased information, it's functionally useless.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Giving Ridiculous reasons......
The human mind is wired to accept ridiculous reasons as if they are legitimate. Studies have shown that people are more likely to agree to a favor if the word "because" is used in the request. It doesn't seem to matter what follows that word. As long as the sentence is in the form of a reason, people accept it as though some actual reason is present. (See the book Influence.)
Guys tend to argue over who picks up the check after dinner/Lunch when you go out with girl. I'll pay today because this is because..... gives some ridiculous reason(blah blah........). I'm exaggerating slightly, but it isn't hard to come up with some trivial reason why you should pay. The funny thing is that any reason you offer will settle the discussion. It works every time.
Another situation in which the ridiculous reason works is when a large dinner group is being served and only half of the people have their dishes. Everyone sits there staring at their food as it cools, trying to be polite. In these cases I say loudly "According to etiquette, you can start eating as soon as three people have been served." Everyone instantly digs in. I think I read that rule of etiquette somewhere, but it's clearly a random number. There is nothing special about three. Ridiculous reasons win again.
I mention these examples because I think the world needs another ridiculous rule to solve some big problems like economy and marriage system. And it's no fair saying my new rule is ridiculous because that's exactly the point.
Guys tend to argue over who picks up the check after dinner/Lunch when you go out with girl. I'll pay today because this is because..... gives some ridiculous reason(blah blah........). I'm exaggerating slightly, but it isn't hard to come up with some trivial reason why you should pay. The funny thing is that any reason you offer will settle the discussion. It works every time.
Another situation in which the ridiculous reason works is when a large dinner group is being served and only half of the people have their dishes. Everyone sits there staring at their food as it cools, trying to be polite. In these cases I say loudly "According to etiquette, you can start eating as soon as three people have been served." Everyone instantly digs in. I think I read that rule of etiquette somewhere, but it's clearly a random number. There is nothing special about three. Ridiculous reasons win again.
I mention these examples because I think the world needs another ridiculous rule to solve some big problems like economy and marriage system. And it's no fair saying my new rule is ridiculous because that's exactly the point.
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