In any struggle for the hearts and minds of the proletariat, a
significant advantage goes to the side that can reduce its message
on a bumper sticker. Rhymes or jingles are bonus points:
* god said it, I believe it, that settles it
* its not a choice, its a child
* abortion stops a beating heart
* no frankenfoods
* america works best when we say union yes!
and numberous other irritating examples.
Then there are nonverbal symbols which trivialize complex
issues to simple visual images, such as the jesus fish devouring
the darwin fish, etc, and the one that burns me the most and
inspired my desire to shout a Bradburyesque rebuttal in the
theatre, the liberty torch sticking out of the sea! That one
simple image in that one movie did more to influence public
opinion on the consequences of global warming than all those
websites I listed, which will never be read by a significant
fraction of the voting proletariat. Gross exaggeration is thus
an effective weapon in the war of ideas.
Extropianism and transhumanism have no snappy little phrases
to counterbalance the kinds of examples given above. Do we?
How about:
* stem cells are potential replacement organs
* genetic engineering feeds starving children
* the singularity is our only hope
* nanotech is our only hope
* greenhouse schmeenhouse
* freeze today, thaw tomorrow
* cryonic suspension is the second worst fate possible
Etc. As you can see, these dont have the punch of the
previous set of examples. I can use some help from
the great collective extro-mind. spike
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