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but those are flat and lifeless definitions of satire. i'm delighted by good satire that points out my own as-yet-undiscovered follies in a wry or clever way. a lot of creative writing and philosophical works do this.

idea exchanged is neutered if all writing must be carefully crafted to not offend even a little bit. plenty of comments here offend others, even without that intent, but the best ones will (1) not target individuals and (2) make a reasonable argument. to me, satire is just adding a little cleverness to these latter kinds of comments.

in any case, i'm not imploring you to agree with me, just adding my voice to the chorus.



Great. Personally, I've changed my mind on some very serious topics: death penalty, addiction, government regulations, capitalism, etc.

In each case, it took someone patiently going over points to help me see better. It takes time for me to fully incorporate new world views. It was a process that required the patience of another human who helped me work through thoughts without judgement or ridicule.

In my case, satire did not help. In fact, it has generally made me double down on my perspective, since it has an inherently ridiculing tone (you might not agree, but that is so by the very definition of the word) - Most people I know double down when confronted with ridicule. In fact most people generally double down on their opinion no matter how thin the evidence in favor of it.

So I'm asking, what deeply held beliefs did you completely change your mind on when confronted with satire? How did it go?

Hearing people's actual experience that is outside of my common conceptions is always super interesting. I'm always open to changing my mind.




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