The great point is when Dawkins uses a reductio ad absurdum to point that Bill’s argument proves too much, it can be used just as well for Mithras and Thor, and Bill’s response is “Man, I saw Apollo over there; he’s not doing so good. You don’t want to go with Apollo.” PERFECT example. Repulsive nonsense; perfectly effective political rejoinder.
A nerd might think that a 10-second pause before changing the subject is no better or no worse than such an absurd reply like the above, but politically, socially, there’s an immense difference. Immense. If Bill had paused, lost for words for 10 seconds, and then changed the subject, it would have made headlines and would be a famous meme to this day. The content is no different, but the content doesn’t matter; the competent BSing is different, and that’s what most people care about.
A wonderful example of this is Richard Dawkins (nerd) meeting with Bill O’Reilly (competent political player) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FARDDcdFaQ&t=1m27s
The great point is when Dawkins uses a reductio ad absurdum to point that Bill’s argument proves too much, it can be used just as well for Mithras and Thor, and Bill’s response is “Man, I saw Apollo over there; he’s not doing so good. You don’t want to go with Apollo.” PERFECT example. Repulsive nonsense; perfectly effective political rejoinder.
A nerd might think that a 10-second pause before changing the subject is no better or no worse than such an absurd reply like the above, but politically, socially, there’s an immense difference. Immense. If Bill had paused, lost for words for 10 seconds, and then changed the subject, it would have made headlines and would be a famous meme to this day. The content is no different, but the content doesn’t matter; the competent BSing is different, and that’s what most people care about.