Signaling Stupidity to Appeal to Others

Ah, Facebook...

I get to see the types of things that my former students are thinking about. Lately, one commented about a piece in the student newspaper that failed to live up to his expectations. In the piece a student talked about her new found willingness to accept the idea that there may not be a god. This is only particularly newsworthy on my campus because people reading the piece can be assumed to believe in at least one god.

My former student was particularly offended that this published article confused theist and deist. This told him, in combination with the general tone of the article, that this person was just beginning to explore those thoughts about life and the possibility of no afterlife. His objection seemed to be that someone should reflect more before publishing such a piece.

I admire this student's high standards, but my comment to him was that the student may in fact know her audience well. Being too bold, or even, as the title of this piece suggests, being too smart -- could turn people off and mean that the article would have limited impact. If my former student were to write the article, it probably would be sophisticated, insightful, and boring to the very readers this student is trying to speak to.

I have noticed for a long time that being technically accurate can be a turn off. Being raised in the South, there is a strong requirement of embellishing that is important for communicating, or what should be called: storytelling. The "Truth" (capital T) is of very little value outside of a scientific or criminal context. In fact, I quickly realized in the south that the kind of persnickety-ness with regard to details was frowned on generally. I had to learn this in the context of my post-graduate education and I still hold some of the embellishment from these formative years.

Just like Mary Poppins said, a spoonful of sugar really helps with the medicine. Similarly, a great big pile of colorful interpretation might help with making big idea appeal to a wider audience. Someone ought to work on the power of these rhetorical approaches vis-a-vis communicating the kernel of ideas. I have always thought that fables and proverbs do a great job of communicating complex ideas and lessons. How effective would they actually be if they were forced to be accurate?