> Logos, Ethos, Pathos: you need all three. "This is true. I am trustworthy. This true thing is important."
This ivermectin thing basically proves that logos isn't useful. Ethos + Pathos alone can convince a large population of people.
The Apple "Reality Distortion Field" was never about logic. It was about making people feel good about buying Apple products. That's fine, because Apple has decent enough products (I don't like them myself, but I can see why some others would like them).
But today, we can apply the "Reality Distortion Field" to any subject. Most recently: ivermectin.
-------------
What I don't get: why are people choosing to push snake oil (like ivermectin), instead of pushing the drugs that do work (3 different vaccines, dexamethasone, and monoclonal antibodies)?
Society has developed working treatments for COVID19: dexamethasone cut the death rate in half IIRC, and monoclonal antibodies cut it in half yet again. And yet, people are seeking treatments that straight up have no evidence of working.
I can put papers up for the efficacy of dexamethasone + monoclonal antibodies, and how this cocktail saves the lives of countless people across this country. But then I'm suddenly left in a "Russet's teapot" scenario where I'm apparently supposed to prove-a-negation when discussing ivermectin (even if countless papers fail to distinguish ivermectin from the null-hypothesis).
People's brains turn off. Because today's reality distortion fields / marketing / propaganda are much, much stronger than logic.
---------
Let me tell you how to do things in today's world.
1. Automatically find the people who have the poorest logic. Use ads, memes, and other such "low-quality" discussion points to find the lowest functioning brains. For example, clickbait headlines or "Nigerian Prince" scams. The dumber the argument, the better.
2. Reasonable people will ignore you. The only people who will interact with you are people with weaker argument skills. Spend as much time convincing _this_ group of your benefits.
3. Make it fun: give them memes to share with their friends. Even if its a bad / crappy argument, that's okay. That's what memes are about.
4. Sit back and relax as your crowd automatically spreads whatever argument you want amongst their friends and family. Now they're doing the hard work for you.
5. Bonus points: get enough people moving as a crowd, and even smart people start to get drawn into the masses. You'll start finding apologists who make better arguments on behalf of you. Keep up with the meme culture and pick/choose the best arguments. Crowdsource your marketing: the memes that become popular are the arguments you want to use.
At no point is "working" on logos actually beneficial to building a RDF (reality distortion field). You can build ethos + pathos simultaneously by just seeding opinions into a crowd through meme culture.
Bonus points#2: Use really, really bad arguments (World is flat. Lets to go Mars. 9/11 was a hoax. Hydroxychloroquine can save you from COVID19) as practice. The better you get at seeding bad arguments, the better you get at seeding any argument.
> I'm apparently supposed to prove-a-negation when discussing ivermectin
i wonder if the bias towards ivermectin is because you can take it yourself, whereas dexamethasone + monoclonal antibodies you probably have to be in serious condition (in a hospital) before you can get it...?
is it possible there is some physiological issues about "going to the doctor" vs "self help/healing" ?
> is it possible there is some physiological issues about "going to the doctor" vs "self help/healing" ?
Its not physiological. Its simply marketing.
Its no secret that ivermectin / hydroxychloroquine makers are benefiting from this snake-oil bullcrap. Its no different from essential oils or other such snake oil products.
We just didn't care about essential oils 3 years ago because its fine for idiots to waste their own money on snake oil. But when the masses are tricked into distrusting COVID19 precautions and start spreading the virus around even more, its a bigger deal.
> Its no secret that ivermectin / hydroxychloroquine makers are benefiting from this snake-oil bullcrap. Its no different from essential oils or other such snake oil products.
interesting... if thats true, shouldn't there be legal repercussions?
> We just didn't care about essential oils 3 years ago because its fine for idiots to waste their own money on snake oil.
slightly off-topic, but as someone who's suffered severe allergic reactions to people using "essential oils" it baffles my mind that these (and supplements) aren't more strictly regulated...
This ivermectin thing basically proves that logos isn't useful. Ethos + Pathos alone can convince a large population of people.
The Apple "Reality Distortion Field" was never about logic. It was about making people feel good about buying Apple products. That's fine, because Apple has decent enough products (I don't like them myself, but I can see why some others would like them).
But today, we can apply the "Reality Distortion Field" to any subject. Most recently: ivermectin.
-------------
What I don't get: why are people choosing to push snake oil (like ivermectin), instead of pushing the drugs that do work (3 different vaccines, dexamethasone, and monoclonal antibodies)?
Society has developed working treatments for COVID19: dexamethasone cut the death rate in half IIRC, and monoclonal antibodies cut it in half yet again. And yet, people are seeking treatments that straight up have no evidence of working.
I can put papers up for the efficacy of dexamethasone + monoclonal antibodies, and how this cocktail saves the lives of countless people across this country. But then I'm suddenly left in a "Russet's teapot" scenario where I'm apparently supposed to prove-a-negation when discussing ivermectin (even if countless papers fail to distinguish ivermectin from the null-hypothesis).
People's brains turn off. Because today's reality distortion fields / marketing / propaganda are much, much stronger than logic.
---------
Let me tell you how to do things in today's world.
1. Automatically find the people who have the poorest logic. Use ads, memes, and other such "low-quality" discussion points to find the lowest functioning brains. For example, clickbait headlines or "Nigerian Prince" scams. The dumber the argument, the better.
2. Reasonable people will ignore you. The only people who will interact with you are people with weaker argument skills. Spend as much time convincing _this_ group of your benefits.
3. Make it fun: give them memes to share with their friends. Even if its a bad / crappy argument, that's okay. That's what memes are about.
4. Sit back and relax as your crowd automatically spreads whatever argument you want amongst their friends and family. Now they're doing the hard work for you.
5. Bonus points: get enough people moving as a crowd, and even smart people start to get drawn into the masses. You'll start finding apologists who make better arguments on behalf of you. Keep up with the meme culture and pick/choose the best arguments. Crowdsource your marketing: the memes that become popular are the arguments you want to use.
At no point is "working" on logos actually beneficial to building a RDF (reality distortion field). You can build ethos + pathos simultaneously by just seeding opinions into a crowd through meme culture.
Bonus points#2: Use really, really bad arguments (World is flat. Lets to go Mars. 9/11 was a hoax. Hydroxychloroquine can save you from COVID19) as practice. The better you get at seeding bad arguments, the better you get at seeding any argument.