It’s still counterproductive. The trouble is, creationists are not crazy—not in the way that most people you might like to persuade would recognise. Creationism is crazy. Many people have trouble grasping that sane people can believe crazy things—and by calling the people crazy, you blur that understanding. This is in addition to the general bad effects documented in the post from calling people crazy.
The same applies to calling them stupid, only even more so.
I agree that sane people can believe crazy things, because everyone makes mistakes. The point expressed in the comment you’ve replied to is that, at least for adults living in the West, creationism is not merely a mistake.
In other words, I’m not saying that creationists are crazy because they believe something that’s contradicted by the evidence and is therefore very, very unlikely to be true. I’m saying they’re crazy because the thought processes that have kept them from rejecting creationism (after going off to college, say) are profoundly anti-rational. Isn’t having profoundly anti-rational thought processes a common definition of insanity?
I guess you could argue that creationists are only crazy in one part of their lives, not in all of it. Well, okay. I might point out that some mafiosi are only evil in one part of their lives, but are perfectly nice people the rest of the time, and yet we still consider them evil.
Most creationists (and tasseomancers, spiritual healers, and so forth) are crazy, not just mistaken, and pretending otherwise for the sake of niceness is what’s counterproductive, at least in the long run.
It’s still counterproductive. The trouble is, creationists are not crazy—not in the way that most people you might like to persuade would recognise. Creationism is crazy. Many people have trouble grasping that sane people can believe crazy things—and by calling the people crazy, you blur that understanding. This is in addition to the general bad effects documented in the post from calling people crazy.
The same applies to calling them stupid, only even more so.
I don’t think you’ve understood my comment.
I agree that sane people can believe crazy things, because everyone makes mistakes. The point expressed in the comment you’ve replied to is that, at least for adults living in the West, creationism is not merely a mistake.
In other words, I’m not saying that creationists are crazy because they believe something that’s contradicted by the evidence and is therefore very, very unlikely to be true. I’m saying they’re crazy because the thought processes that have kept them from rejecting creationism (after going off to college, say) are profoundly anti-rational. Isn’t having profoundly anti-rational thought processes a common definition of insanity?
I guess you could argue that creationists are only crazy in one part of their lives, not in all of it. Well, okay. I might point out that some mafiosi are only evil in one part of their lives, but are perfectly nice people the rest of the time, and yet we still consider them evil.
Most creationists (and tasseomancers, spiritual healers, and so forth) are crazy, not just mistaken, and pretending otherwise for the sake of niceness is what’s counterproductive, at least in the long run.