So what would be more savory? Actually: what would be more savory and not misrepresent us at the same time? I mean, there is genuine interest in rationality around here. Sure, there’s also above average representation of atheism and “fringe technophile ideas”, and it’s no accident that this is so, but that doesn’t mean the interest in rationality is a thin veneer to mask a more political or ideological cause.
Yes, it’s a plausible reaction. Someone potentially interested in rationality, but unwilling to suppose that a site claiming to be devoted to it is what it claims to be because he’s used to everyone trying to “sell something”, refuses to check the site out properly based on that.
But is that really the tagline’s fault? Is it possible to do better with a different tagline? If we claim to be about something other than rationality, we just mislead potential readers and members who are interested in rationality rather than in that something else.
If I honestly want to talk about A, and you believe I’m trying to sell B, I don’t think I can do any better than to keep trying to show that I’m genuinely interested in A. There’s little to gain from my surrendering to your disbelief and agreeing that I’m trying to sell B, or inventing some (perhaps more plausible) C.
So what would be more savory? Actually: what would be more savory and not misrepresent us at the same time? I mean, there is genuine interest in rationality around here. Sure, there’s also above average representation of atheism and “fringe technophile ideas”, and it’s no accident that this is so, but that doesn’t mean the interest in rationality is a thin veneer to mask a more political or ideological cause.
Yes, it’s a plausible reaction. Someone potentially interested in rationality, but unwilling to suppose that a site claiming to be devoted to it is what it claims to be because he’s used to everyone trying to “sell something”, refuses to check the site out properly based on that.
But is that really the tagline’s fault? Is it possible to do better with a different tagline? If we claim to be about something other than rationality, we just mislead potential readers and members who are interested in rationality rather than in that something else.
If I honestly want to talk about A, and you believe I’m trying to sell B, I don’t think I can do any better than to keep trying to show that I’m genuinely interested in A. There’s little to gain from my surrendering to your disbelief and agreeing that I’m trying to sell B, or inventing some (perhaps more plausible) C.