The Socratic method is a form of philosophical inquiry in which the questioner explores the implications of others' positions, to stimulate rational thinking and illuminate ideas.
I was intrigued when recently I watched a snowboard video, and found one of the pro snowboarders talking about chem-trails. What was interesting and what I learned from him was his manor of talking about the chem trails. He didn't state what they were for, that the government was trying to blah blah blah, or any of that activist junk.
"I don't really question what it's doing, but why they are doing it?"
That struck a cord in me. I realized, if he was to tell the audience what he thought the government was doing, then he would be telling the audience what to think. By challenging the viewer to wonder why there were these weird jet exhausts, or 'contrails' all over the snowboarding valleys, he let their imagination run wild and would also cause the viewer to search for themselves. This method is far more diplomatic and non-confrontational then many forms of activism I have seen. He backs it up by making a personal observation that whenever these trails appear, it gets cloudy by the afternoon- ruining potential shooting time. He makes his point by pointing out something fairly trivial and light-hearted, while making a serious point.
The interview had started off with the question: "Tell me about your theories on these chem-trails."
The same snowboarder responds, "It's not really my theories. If you go out you simply see them. It's not like I'm making it up, I'm just asking the question why is this happening?"
They key to getting people to wake-up is to get them curious or wanting to learn about it- basically what any given marketer looks to create in their customer. It's a concept as old as Socrates for f*ck's sake- why hasn't this picked up in mainstream environmental activism?
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