[free-sklyarov] An Alternative Line of Argumentation

[Cousin Willie]

Previously, "Izel Sulam" <izel at sulam.com> wrote:

>I have read the arguments worded in babyspeak that are meant
>to get through to the unwashed masses. 
[...]
>There is too much [...] here for sheeple to handle. 
[...]
>The sheeple eat it up.
[...]
>Here is the argument, in babyspeak.

   Golly.  I'll bet that those poor, dumb "sheeple" out there sure will appreciate having a Giant Superbrain like yourself come down and explain things to them in "babyspeak" so that they can understand, too.

   Better make sure all that condescension and contempt for the common man that you've got bottled up inside you doesn't leak out, though.  It seems pretty acidic.

   How does it help the cause to have a bunch of "advocates" charge out half-cocked saying "you're too dumb to understand what's going on here, but let me provide this simple analogy", and then proceeding to mumble something about cereal boxes and secret decoders, or books in glass boxes, or Firestone tires?  It seems that you're walking a fine line, risking that the public draws some undesirable conclusions:

   a) you have people thinking (justifiably) that you're
      insulting their intelligence;
   b) you have people who really are smart enough to 
      understand these things (if you spend the right amount
      of time) thinking that you're trying to shine them on
      because you're using wacky analogies instead of
      addressing the issue head-on.

   I'd argue that the parallels between Adobe and Firestone are anything *but* clear.  In one case, you have all kinds of dramatic TV pictures: millions of people lining up to exchange their tires, auto accidents with lots of broken glass and twisted steel, mothers crying on TV as they talk about their dead children.  On the other hand, you have . . . what?  People complaining that they want to print out their e-book, or how they'd really like to read it on their VAIO instead of their desktop machine?  I'm afraid that the general public is just going to dismiss your "remember Firestone!" meme as hyperbole from a bunch of worked-up geeks.

   Besides, if you go for analogies instead of education, the NEXT time something like this comes up, you'll have to say "remember how LAST time bad crypto was like a defective tire?  Well, THIS time, I want you to imagine that it's JUST LIKE . . . "

   -- W.

   


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