| | Hateful mockery can backfire - especially when a group in the minority. Atheists are the least trusted group in America (see: [[Views on Atheists|Views on atheists]]). | | Hateful mockery can backfire - especially when a group in the minority. Atheists are the least trusted group in America (see: [[Views on Atheists|Views on atheists]]). |
| − | [[Saul Alinsky]], an agnostic, was an American secular leftist who championed ridicule as a means to achieve political ends.<ref>{{cite book|title=Radical: A Portrait of Saul Alinsky|year=2010|publisher=Nation Books|isbn=9781568586250|pages=108–109|author=Nicholas Von Hoffman|quote=He passed the word in the Back of the Yards that this Jewish agnostic was okay, which at least ensured that he would not be kicked out the door.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Social Mission of the U.S. Catholic Church: A Theological Perspective|year=2011|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=9781589017436|author=Charles E. Curran|page=32|quote=Saul D. Alinsky, an agnostic Jew, organized the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago in the late 1930s and started the Industrial Areas Foundation in 1940 to promote community organizations and to train community organizers.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding Maritain: Philosopher and Friend|year=1987|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=9780865542792|author=Deal Wyatt Hudson|editor=Deal Wyatt Hudson, Matthew J. Mancini|page=40|quote=Saul Alinsky was an agnostic Jew for whom religion of any kind held very little importance and just as little relation to the focus of his life's work: the struggle for economic and social justice, for human dignity and human rights, and for the alleviation of the sufferings of the poor and downtrodden.}}</ref> One of his 12 rules of radicals was 'Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.' There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.<ref>[http://www.bestofbeck.com/wp/activism/saul-alinskys-12-rules-for-radicals Saul Alinsky’s 12 Rules for Radicals]</ref> | + | [[Saul Alinsky]], an agnostic, was an American secular leftist who championed ridicule as a means to achieve political ends.<ref>{{cite book|title=Radical: A Portrait of Saul Alinsky|year=2010|publisher=Nation Books|isbn=9781568586250|pages=108–109|author=Nicholas Von Hoffman|quote=He passed the word in the Back of the Yards that this Jewish agnostic was okay, which at least ensured that he would not be kicked out the door.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Social Mission of the U.S. Catholic Church: A Theological Perspective|year=2011|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=9781589017436|author=Charles E. Curran|page=32|quote=Saul D. Alinsky, an agnostic Jew, organized the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago in the late 1930s and started the Industrial Areas Foundation in 1940 to promote community organizations and to train community organizers.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding Maritain: Philosopher and Friend|year=1987|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=9780865542792|author=Deal Wyatt Hudson|editor=Deal Wyatt Hudson, Matthew J. Mancini|page=40|quote=Saul Alinsky was an agnostic Jew for whom religion of any kind held very little importance and just as little relation to the focus of his life's work: the struggle for economic and social justice, for human dignity and human rights, and for the alleviation of the sufferings of the poor and downtrodden.}}</ref> One of his 12 rules of radicals was "'Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.' There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions."<ref>[http://www.bestofbeck.com/wp/activism/saul-alinskys-12-rules-for-radicals Saul Alinsky’s 12 Rules for Radicals]</ref> |