The Socratic method works only on people with open minds or who are intellectually honest (usually, those go together, but some intellectually honest people can be incredibly stubborn). Those who have already made up their minds will see a Socratic line of questions as a threat to their ideology and run away while firing off some parting shot, usually an ad hominem attack. If you start asking inconvenient questions, don't be surprised if the other person says "I see where this is going, I'm not wasting my time with you." Remember, some ideas are simply unacceptable to them, so asking questions is a "slippery slope" to entertaining the unthinkable. I have documented my own experiences in this matter quite extensively in the editorial section of my WordPress blog, if you are curious about precisely how vicious intellectually dishonest people can be when they are not limited to 240 characters or whatever the limit is on Twiddle. I should warn you, I'm a bit of a shitlord, probably the result of spending a lot of time in the company of Aussies and Kiwis. I still check up on @frot every now and then.
What I've noticed is that society has been oscillating between empiricism and sophistry ever since the days of Socrates. Every time that there is an intellectual enlightenment brought on by empiricism, there is a massive reaction from egotists. Hegelianism, for example, is a repudiation of the scientific method made in response to the scientific and philosophical progress of the 17th and 18th centuries, and while Hegel was a laughingstock in his day, unable to hold a candle to the likes of Locke or Voltaire, his philosophy appeals to egotists, and thus it has lived on. The method of postmodernism is sophistry; Hegel didn't invent it, he merely revived it.
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The likelihood of persuading is indeed low. That is why social media requires consideration of the silent observers. They can weigh who is being rational and who is being petty, think about things at their own pace, and possibly reconsider their beliefs.
bloody aussies
LOL! Between that scrappy little bird and Bojack (speaking of which, that would make an excellent name for a Wojack of ol' horse-face if it doesn't already exist), your memes practically make themselves. No wonder the Aussies are jealous!
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