Certainly, few people would mock someone to their face. I agree that mockery is usually harmful and counterproductive, and I'm sorry if I implied that you, personally, have a habit of going around mocking people. I was referring to so-called "nerds" in the collective - I think the stereotype that exists within nerdy circles of nerds being virtuous, put-upon victims of others' mockery is largely untrue. I saw that reflected in the article, and I was pointing out that in my experience, supposedly intelligent, sensitive "nerds" are no more or less likely to engage in vicious mockery.
Edit: I also don't think mockery is by definition bad - it goes back to the article on Diseased Thinking. If mocking someone for dangerous or irrational beliefs significantly increases the probability that they'll abandon those dangerous beliefs (even considering knock-on effects), why should we hold back in order to be more virtuous? Social disapproval in many forms has been a tool to moderate beliefs for tens of thousands of years. Jokes putting down others' beliefs, habits, customs, and decisions seem to be pretty universal - that's what I meant when I said "we" didn't refrain from mocking our out-group. Sorry, I should have phrased it better.
I think the stereotype that exists within nerdy circles of nerds being virtuous, put-upon victims of others' mockery is largely untrue.
I believe you are right, unfortunate though this fact is.
As for the second part, mocking is a form of violence, and it can be used both by people with healthy beliefs and people with dangerous ones. Saying that we should allow ourselves to mock other people to correct them through negative reinforcement is like a softer way of saying we should allow ourselves to gang up on them on the street and beat the shit out of the...
This is my first attempt at starting a casual conversation on LW where people don't have to worry about winning or losing points, and can just relax and have social fun together.
So, Big Bang Theory. That series got me wondering. It seems to be about "geeks", and not the basement-dwelling variety either; they're highly successful and accomplished professionals, each in their own field. One of them has been an astronaut, even. And yet, everything they ever accomplish amounts to absolutely nothing in terms of social recognition or even in terms of personal happiness. And the thing is, it doesn't even get better for their "normal" counterparts, who are just as miserable and petty.
Consider, then; how would being rationalists would affect the characters on this show? The writing of the show relies a lot on laughing at people rather than with them; would rationalist characters subvert that? And how would that rationalist outlook express itself given their personalities? (After all, notice how amazingly different from each other Yudkowsky, Hanson, and Alicorn are, just to name a few; they emphasize rather different things, and take different approaches to both truth-testing and problem-solving).
Note: this discussion does not need to be about rationalism. It can be a casual, normal discussion about the series. Relax and enjoy yourselves.
But the reason I brought up that series is that its characters are excellent examples of high intelligence hampered by immense irrationality. The apex of this is represented by Dr. Sheldon Cooper, who is, essentially, a complete fundamentalist over every single thing in his life; he applies this attitude to everything, right down to people's favorite flavor of pudding: Raj is "axiomatically wrong" to prefer tapioca, because the best pudding is chocolate. Period. This attitude makes him a far, far worse scientist than he thinks, as he refuses to even consider any criticism of his methods or results.