Morton's Demon

[ghost_warlock]

A while ago I was introduced to the thought experiment called Morton's demon. Although I realize Morton's demon is not "real," the concept of it rung true with me as I considered my interactions with a particular fundamentalist believer*.

 

Since hearing about Morton's demon, I've had a few "debates" with the believer on Facebook, got tired of his bull, and recently (this morning) blocked him. In the process, I caught myself thinking "Why do I let myself get drawn into these discussions? I never want to talk about this ever again!"

 

Then, it occurred to me that some atheists may be getting so fed-up with being pestered and forced to explain their stance on religion (or evolution, or the age of the earth, etc.) that they do shut down and decide to simply stop talking about the issues altogether.

 

As some individuals and members of religious groups are threatened by the increasing number of outspoken atheists, is it possible that religious believers are seeking to exploit this tactic to keep atheists cowed and/or prevent them from networking? The outcome, of course, is decreased resistance to religiously-motivated attempts to influence politics, legislature, school curriculum, etc.

 

In other words, does it seem plausible that some theists are attempting to draw atheists into insincere debates and then spamming garbage, while simultaneously ignoring almost all responses, until the atheist decides that the only way to escape this kind of exhausting futility is to end the discussion and then keep quiet about the issue in the future?

 

*Incidentally, it's the same guy I referenced in this thread here at Ex-C.

 

Edit: sorry if this is in the wrong section, I wasn't really sure which would be most appropriate.

[Legion]

Well I think that the real religious nutjobs are actually encouraged by resistance to their message.

 

I would rather spend my time promoting science than fighting superstition anyway. I think we can promote the things we love, or we can fight the things we despise, but rarely can we do both of these things simultaneously.