Ignorance as Disability--yes, or no?

[catsittingstill]

I was poking around the Web this morning and came across an amusing post (presumably inspired by April Fool's Day): Top 10 Creationist Discoveries of All Time.

And this kind of got my thoughts running along these lines, inspired by, but not really a response to the post in question:

1) obviously we don't make fun of disabled people; that's just a) wrong and b) deeply uncool. 

2)So we don't make fun of mentally disabled people either.  Wrong and uncool; we're all on the same page here, I'm pretty sure.

3) This would logically mean that we shouldn't make fun of stupid people--but sometimes I do.  Or at least, I make fun of people who I call stupid because they have nutbar ideas that they insist on spreading.

4) But having nutbar ideas doesn't necessarily mean someone is stupid (can't learn--arguably a genuine disability that one shouldn't make fun of).  It may just mean that someone is ignorant (doesn't know better, but could learn better under the right circumstances.)

5) But sometimes ignorance isn't the ignorant person's fault.  Perhaps the ignorant person has never had the opportunity to learn.  Perhaps the ignorant person was even deliberately taught the nutbar ideas as a gullible child and carefully innoculated against any appeals to rationality and logic and evidence that might have made it possible for the ignorant person to learn.

If the ignorant person's ignorance was deliberately created and maintained by others, is the ignorant person the innocent victim of a disability?  Is making fun of the ignorant person wrong and cruel, the way making fun of somebody in a wheelchair is wrong and cruel?

I'm having a hard time deciding.

Comments

[unclehaakon.livejournal.com]

First, let me state for the record, that as a white (in places painfully white, hence the old ban on me taking my shirt off in public) male who is over 40 but under 65, I belong to one of the few groups even the most rabidly politically correct find it ok to make fun of. Toss in the fact that I now live in a rural area of a mostly rural state, and I start becoming a walking punch line. Now, add smoking to the mix, and you've got yourself guaranteed hilarity at my expense.

One of the internet boards I'm active on found it necessary to create a forum just for "Evolution vs Creation" debates. The topic of "Creationism" crops up regularly on many other science related sites I frequent.

Frankly, ridiculing these people just seems to feed some sort of "martyr" complex. They seem to thrive on it. Debating them just brings out the same tired arguments on their end, usually based on the same translation of the Bible, or the same misconceptions about how science works.

Since debate is futile, you can only ignore them and hope they'll go away (they won't) or expose their ideas for the mess they are. Humor is a good way to do this, and may help a few of these folks examine the world around them. It may even convince them to think for themselves.

Believing the universe is only 6000 years old is fine. It's your right to believe anything you wish. However, when you push that belief on others, you've opened the door to all the ridicule you deserve. When you insist that every school child be forcibly exposed to your beliefs, and only your beliefs, you;ve crossed a line between your faith and my rights.

So, yes, I'll poke fun at them if I feel like it. In effect, they've thrown the first punch, and I'm merely acting in self-defense.

Let me ask a simple question: would you have the same qualms about poking fun at a racist, or a criminal?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Frankly, ridiculing these people just seems to feed some sort of "martyr" complex.

True. On the other hand, *everything* feeds these people's martyr complexes.

Humor is a good way to do this, and may help a few of these folks examine the world around them. It may even convince them to think for themselves.

A number of other people I admire also have this view, and I think I largely agree with it.

Let me ask a simple question: would you have the same qualms about poking fun at a racist, or a criminal?
A racist, no; if I could figure out a way to make racism funny, I'd let them have it. Well, if it was someone I knew I might try to talk her out of it using sweet reason first. But it definitely gets my hackles up.

A criminal--believe it or not, it would depend on what the criminal had done and why. (Go ahead--call me a liberal. I'm proud of it.) Someone who tried to pull the front off an ATM, sure. Someone caught using marijuana to ease the pain of chemo, nope.

[unclehaakon.livejournal.com]

On my use of the word "criminals":

My bad for not being specific enough. Frankly, there are many things that are technically illegal that I don't see as "wrong". Getting caught doing one of them would make someone a criminal in a strictly legal sense, but let's never forget that the founding fathers of the US were all technically guilty of high treason against the Crown. Had the war gone the other way, they would quite likely have faced imprisonment or even execution for their crimes.

So, instead of "criminal", let's say "someone who commits a crime against the lives and/or property of others, or who commits an act that morally outrages you." It's a bit cumbersome, though, and covers a lot of gray area.

On your being a "liberal":

Nothing wrong with that, just as there is nothing wrong with being a "conservative". As long as your opinions are the result of informed choices, how those opinions line up with some artificial definition shouldn't be anyone's concern. I am "liberal" on some things, "conservative" on other issues, and downright libertarian on still others.

Make your choices based on your life experience, what you are able to learn about the issues, and most importantly, your own sense of "right" and "wrong". In other words, "to thine own self be true".

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

With the expanded explanation of what you mean by criminal, sure I'd make fun of such a person if I came up with a way to do it that didn't belittle what they'd done or mock the people they'd hurt. (Obviously :-)