There are many people I appreciate for their contributions in some areas, such as science or reason, while still rolling my eyes at their blatantly ignorant statism.
I actually heard one saying that he discarded his "woo" beliefs one at a time, until he had no more. Yet, he identifies as a "progressive"/"liberal" and he is an anti-gun bigot. So, he still has at least one demonstrably false "woo belief", and probably more (considering the correlation of "progressive beliefs" with other statist nonsense). So, while he may be credible in some areas, he is not credible when it comes to how people should behave toward others. Not in the slightest.
I don't expect a person to be an expert in everything, but when you are completely ignorant in some area, you have a responsibility to not open your yap and ignorantly preach at others.
It's why I respected Stephen Hawking's contributions to science, but discounted his opinions about government. In one area he was an expert; in the other he was as ignorant as any gutter drunk. And I could point out example after example.
If I want to know how to brain tan buckskin I don't go to the guy who is an expert computer hacker. If I want computer advice, I don't go to the guy who knows how to brain tan. I'm not necessarily saying someone couldn't know both, but if the brain tan guy tells me I need to cast the demons out of my laptop to fix it, I'm going to see that he might know buckskin, but he doesn't know computers. You need to evaluate the advice on its own merits, or lack thereof.
It's the same with someone who understands cosmology or any other branch of actual science, but still believes you need to molest each other to have a functioning society. Ignorance is ignorance.
Your logic is impeccable sir. It's funny how when people say things like you have, how others quickly malign the person saying it, while completely ignoring the thing the person said.
ReplyDeleteYour efforts are appreciated and what is needed to bring the conversation where it needs to go.