The Righteous and Ridicule PDF Version
Here is a good definition of ridicule.
“The act of using words, gestures, images, or other products of expression to evoke laughter or contemptuous feelings regarding a person or thing.” American Heritage Dictionary.
Is ask you. is there ever an occasion where a good thinking, highly sentient, honest person should use ridicule as a tool or for any reason? At first glance it seems one would lower ones self considerably by engaging in such unsophisticated simple minded discourse.
Even non Christians seem to believe Jesus was honest and straight forward. Here is Jesus engaging in, lets say, righteous ridicule. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matthew 23:13
This is ridicule. Why would Jesus lower himself to engage in ridicule? Is there anything honest and straight forward he could say or do to change their behavior? No, absolutely nothing. Debating them would gain nothing. They were not truth seekers. They were the kind who would say or do anything to get what they want.
Given our leadership today, would they or would they say anything to get their way? If you are not in an honest discussion then there is no point in presenting a gentlemanly argument. Is it a fight or an academic argument?
The fact is that our leaders are sociopaths and really not really trying to do the right thing. They just appear to be doing so.
Remember “Lets Go Brandon.” How effective was the use of “F… Joe Biden on that particular occasion. “Lets Go Brandon.” probably accomplished more for opponents of Joe Biden than all of the honest conversation about his liabilities since 2020.
So, when does it make sense to use ridicule? Ridicule is to a sociopath like kryptonite is to Superman. It is said that a sociopath has no conscience. The do have something that serves like a conscience. A sociopath is highly sensitive to how he comes across to others. Being ill thought of is definitely something for a sociopath to completely avoid. What if a sociopath found himself to be ill thought of? He would retool and present himself in a different way.
So, in order to win against a sociopath ridicule turns out to be the best tool in the arsenal. And, winning is all that can be accomplished. There will not be any understanding generated anyway. I suppose “Lets Go Brandon” came and went, but that one thing accomplished more than polite conversation has in two years.