On the internet, you’re free to speak your mind, no matter how unquestionably and empirically retarded your opinion happens to be. However, because you’re putting your opinion out on the internet where everyone can see it, everything you say is going to be scrutinized, measured, and appraised for its content, on its own merits, and when what you say is found lacking, people are going to tell you so. Then make fun of you mercilessly for it. The whole internet gravitated toward this model, and for an excellent reason — it is a meritocracy on a global scale.
There’s one major problem with this setup, as illustrated on Pharyngula, and in the case of presenting religious arguments, it is codified in the concept of “Poe’s Law”: it is impossible to write a parody of a creationist trope that will not convince at least one reader that it’s a legitimate belief held by a real religious person. A corollary to this is that it’s impossible to distinguish parody from legitimate beliefs held by these god-bots, specifically because no matter how wacky or ridiculous the belief or illogical the behaviour, someone has done it, seriously and earnestly.
Continue reading “Poe’s Law”