Ancalagon
10-29-2010, 09:33 PM
I've frequently seen recently pieces of satire mistaken as real opinions from the poster. Thankfully, this problem is quite rare here, but on more open forums it seems rife. A number of people have expressed dismay at this, saying that surely the fact that it was satire should have been obvious.
Unfortunately, I believe that this is not the case anymore. The problem is that the common internet reader have been confused by the really stupid, and can't distinguish satire from real idiocy. Out there, in the twisted tubes of the intarweeb, there are people who actually believe what the satirist said and will express it in the same way. The only real way for a viewer to distinguish the two is additional information - ie is the person an idiot or not.
My assertion is backed by Hanlon's Razor (Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.) and Clark's law (Sufficiently advanced cluelessness is indistinguishable from malice.), which itself is a modification of Clarke's Law (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.).
Ergo, Observer's Corollary, "advanced idiocy is indistinguishable from outrageous satire".
At this point some of you may say "but surely real idiocy isn't that finely tuned? Can't that tell us the difference between satire and moronhood in action?". You would think so, but no. Admittedly, most serious idiocy is "big, loud and crass". There is no subtlety, just disaster usually. However, some people have perfected their idiocy into a breathtaking art, layering it with wrongness on multiple levels and weaving intricate irony in it. This is very dangerous, because the demented genius of their stupid words and deeds tend to make smart people point, sputter and then have a seizure, instead of just saying "don't do that you idiot!".
Unfortunately, I believe that this is not the case anymore. The problem is that the common internet reader have been confused by the really stupid, and can't distinguish satire from real idiocy. Out there, in the twisted tubes of the intarweeb, there are people who actually believe what the satirist said and will express it in the same way. The only real way for a viewer to distinguish the two is additional information - ie is the person an idiot or not.
My assertion is backed by Hanlon's Razor (Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.) and Clark's law (Sufficiently advanced cluelessness is indistinguishable from malice.), which itself is a modification of Clarke's Law (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.).
Ergo, Observer's Corollary, "advanced idiocy is indistinguishable from outrageous satire".
At this point some of you may say "but surely real idiocy isn't that finely tuned? Can't that tell us the difference between satire and moronhood in action?". You would think so, but no. Admittedly, most serious idiocy is "big, loud and crass". There is no subtlety, just disaster usually. However, some people have perfected their idiocy into a breathtaking art, layering it with wrongness on multiple levels and weaving intricate irony in it. This is very dangerous, because the demented genius of their stupid words and deeds tend to make smart people point, sputter and then have a seizure, instead of just saying "don't do that you idiot!".