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 them, because there's no other way of getting the truth through their thick skulls.
As a matter of fact, many violent groups preach this exact concept. And when they meet, each one of them believes they are entitled to use violence on the other in the name of what they understand to be the truth. The winners, however, aren't the ones that have truth on their side, but those who have the biggest sticks or best bodies or better training or lower combat inhibitions or other stuff that has nothing to do with whether they're right. And there's no guarrantee that the losers will integrate the winners' ideology.
The same is true for a duel of mockeries; the winner is the quick and witty one, not the one with the most truth backing them up, and the defeated is more likely to feel resentful and grab onto their position than to try to join the winner under the light of truth.
Mockery is verbal violence. It may be useful or necessary sometimes; to keep the violence simile, you've got to shoot the Nazis, there's just no way around it. But it's still bad, achieves victory at a terrible price for both you and your victim, and also, let's be honest, runs the risk of you losing and truth being set back in the public eye because you couldn't think of a witty comeback in time.
What I believe should be done when faced with the ridiculous is to gently point it out. Put the facts together, in such a way that the question is obvious. O'Reily's opponent during the "You can't explain that" episode did an exemplary job of that I think.
Also, sorry for misunderstanding.
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 them, because there's no other way of getting the truth through their thick skulls.
I really don't think this is a fair comparison - it's true that a "battle of wits" results in the wittiest person winning, not necessarily the most correct. But then again, any contest involving verbal argument tends to go to those who are best ...
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.