Wednesday, August 02, 2023

Pratt The Raptor

"I know why it's the case, it's because the internet runs on clicks, so if half the country is reading about how brave they are for knowing the earth is flat it's not like the other half is gonna click on articles about how round earth is, they're going to click on lists of 17 things to do when your uncle thinks the earth is flat. Because that's the thing we'd like to learn, that's the ****ing earth shape that's still unknown to us. We fall into a trap of essentially studying bad studying, in hopes that we can Pratt the raptor." ~ Dan Harmon

I love the phrase "Pratt the Raptor." I agree with Dan that many arguments on the net can be pointless and just serve to entangle yourself in a mess that the "Raptor" enjoys.

However, those arguments CAN help turn the studio audience. One of the things that helped snap me out of religion's spell was watching and listening to those conversations when I was a believer. I cringed at the behavior displayed by the apologists of my faith. I was embarrassed by their lack of listening, their passive aggression, their belittling attitudes, and their straight-up insults.

Yeah, you're probably never going to Pratt the Raptor ... but the folks out in the stands are another story. 

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1 comment:

  1. EdThursday, August 3, 2023 at 10:49:00 AM MDT

    I think what the net does well to those who are willing to listen and study is to find out "what sticks". Before the net, when one argued a point and used a fact that fell flat, it was game over at that point. But with the net, you can seek and find so many people arguing just about any point, that you can see what things fall flat ahead of time and what things resonate ahead of time and filter your argument thusly, perhaps ultimately changing a mind.

    Unfortunately, I have found that few people here on the net, take that time and continue to use the same old tired arguments full of holes and going back to slinging out everything to see if anything "sticks". The saving grace is that those who tend to write blogs, tend to be more willing to listen and research than most.

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