5 years ago

@xinit oddly enough, I found some of them very likable.

4 years ago

@xinit The problem is, by engaging these cranks, they are empowering them w/ credibility. These people have no evidence to back their claims. Not only that, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence to support them, and they don't even have the slightest evidence to support what they're saying. Just b/c someone has an ignorant, uneducated opinion about something doesn't mean that they're deserving of being part of the public discourse on the subject.<br /> <br /> If I stated, "Topsoil is made of marshmallows," this shouldn't require the greatest scientific minds of the world to stop their important, life-changing works to confront me. I should be dismissed out of hand, unless I can offer some sort of relevant evidence that this is a plausibility. That's the problem here. These people are being given credence that they aren't deserving of, b/c they decided to take up a stance based on nothing more than puerile ignorance. It's harmful, and it's dangerous, and people like this should not be part of the public discourse on any subject, b/c their credibility is shot the moment they spout garbage like this.