Imagine a salesperson doing this

Sales training 101 - insult your prospective buyer upon first meeting them so they'll buy what you're selling! What an idiot!

 

You mean what genius. The entire advertising industry thrives by producing commercials that insult our intelligence, condescendingly grab us by the lapels and irritate us with incessant repetition. 99% of advertising is a calculated deceit. Why do business with someone whose opening overture to you is a deliberate deceit - but we do, with a reliability and consistency that keeps Madison Avenue in gravy to $200B/yr.

 

Wait a minute I thought they mostly used sex?

 

That's the deceit, they use the hope of sex to sell their product, then you don't get any

 

Oh I'm getting it I just wish it would last longer than 30 seconds. ound:

 

Oh my god, you're not starting another religion thread, are you?

 

Hey, there are some topics still visible on the Fred's threads index page that are NOT religious so we're still short and need more.

I thought you were describing something that actually happened to you at a dealership.

No quarrels there but I can't detect any difference at all between that and 99% of religious evangelizing other than advocates of atheism don't murder their failures.

It is puzzling that we so often in any attempt at persuasion resort to tactics that only deepen the rift. Some vestige of ancient circuitry in our minds that aeons ago served some survival or reproductive advantage now short circuits our ability to get ideas across and sparks fly. We resist it only through conscious and frequently very difficult effort.

It ain't limited to religious fractiousness, so as a general topic for discussion it can be explored without any reference at all to theism. That would keep this thread from being a religious one, but, as I pointed out above, we'll then have to make up for it somewhere else because we're still short.

 

I have at least six really good comments to post in reply to these two...

... but I can't bring myself to do it. The gods of Prius Chat would ban me.

:tape:

:frusty:

 

Just do it! Go on, you know you want to.

 

What about the dealer who comes up to the driver and says," if you don't drive the car I drive, you'll go to hell, but it's your choice, and the creator of my car who created everything including you, loves you, but will still send you to an eternity of fire if you don't drive my car."

That' is EXACTLY how christianity is sold unless you were the victim of childhood indoctrination and thus had no opportunity to do any due diligence on the car you might have actually wanted to drive.

 

Apparently not. I must admit I hadn't thought of discussing ideas as 'selling', and until you pointed it out, I made no connection with your analogy and religion.

Not to speak for Daniel, but my hunch is that he wanted to calm down before re-engaging in discussion. The 'sales job' as you call it, can be pretty frustrating from this side of the pew. People who are religious tend not to put much faith in logic. Usually, without trying to be personal or insulting, logic and reason are pretty much useless as 'sales tactics' on those who refuse to accept their validity. Some religious claims are just so completely outrageous, and the 'arguments' in favour so illogical and circular, that sometimes derisive laughter is all that's left. It's not necessarily meant as an effective advertisement, nor as an attack.

Really, the onus of proof is on those making the claims. It's not up to the atheist or the agnostic to disprove virgin births, prayer, and eternal life. It's up to you to convince me to 'buy your product'. And it's not like I haven't heard the pitch before, nor given it serious consideration. I've already asked the door-to-door salespeople - those nicely dressed ones who seem to travel in matched pairs - to put me on their 'do not call' list.

As for religious 'sales tactics', it's not effective to be cursed with eternal damnation. Some of the salespeople are surprisingly violent, evil, and threatening.

 

I have a friend. He happens to be a unicorn and he can do magic too.
I know, I know, you cant see him or touch him, neither can I
He's here right now, over there, sitting on the recliner.

 

Now that's just mean taunting.

 

Look, I'm a 52 year old guy. I'm intelligent, responsible, kind, caring, patient and understanding.
I believe in my Unicorn pal. It doesnt matter to me if you believe or you dont.
He gives me the gift of contentment and of piece of mind. He's told me that anyone who believes in him will also have piece of mind and contentment. He also mentioned that believing in him is not a prerequisite to either. A person can have one or both without even knowing him.

I'm not mean and I wasnt taunting. I know hes real.

 

I think people who believe in religion are retarded.
I also think people who drive 4x4's in cities are retarded.

Am i wrong?

 

Using that word is no longer PC. You should consider rewording.