I received a letter a day or two ago consisting of the following message --
Can you show me medical proof that the "Belief" of one being a "Real Dragon"
does not have to do with a brain condition. And I'd like that proof in the
form of a letter from a doctor(s) Preferably one that is still alive.
Now, I plan to be basically charitable in my response, because flaming people for cluelessness is no way to put a good face on a belief so important to me. But. But. There's a certain amount of hostility inherent in the question, and an (at least implied) slap at my belief, and I have to give myself a little latitude to make the point that if you're going to be mean you can at least do it well.
So, while my main point will be to gently point out the concept of "burden of proof" (if I make a positive assertion that some people really DO have dragon souls, it's up to me to provide evidence for it before anyone has to take me seriously; if sie suggests that draconity is caused by a physical brain malfunction, that's hir positive assertion, and it's not my job to disprove it until sie provides evidence in support of the position), I hope to comply with (the letter of) her request in order to suggest how pointless it is.
Is there a doctor in the audience? (Technically, a Ph.D. is a doctor -- a Doctor of Philosophy. ;)) If so, could I request that one of you type up or write up a nice little letter, in your own words, and sign it, scan it, and send me an image of the letter? (Or some equivalent, like a PDF. Or even just plain-text, I guess, although it loses a lot of its authenticity that way.)
I have a half-formed perverse idea dancing through my mind, and it runs thusly: Have the letter delve deeply into psychological and/or neurochemical technobabble for a paragraph or two while saying basically nothing, in order to establish the illusion of authority; introduce the idea of draconity; and cite a fictitious study stating that while researching the phenomenon a statistically significant link was found between draconity and ... I don't know. Something obviously bullshit like "the presence of severed limbs in relatives' houses" or "preference for wasabi on sushi." Then haughtily dismiss the idea that draconity has a neurochemical basis because (A) the above connection is sufficient to explain it; and (B) no actual brains have ever been found to exist on Earth anyway, except in dolphins, who all have better things to do than argue about spirituality. At this point going off into some sort of totally off-the-wall conspiracy theory rant would be cool, or spattering fake blood on the letter and cutting it off abruptly (followed by an apologetic explanation on my part that I couldn't quite do "still alive"), or, well, you're the doctor. You figure it out. :)
Frankly, I'm not wedded to any particular notion; I just want something to make this fun instead of the dreaded "go fend off the crank" chore it currently looks like. Surprise me!
So. Any takers?
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