Someone says, "Put salt on the bird's tale!" Okay...is that relevant to the problem? No. Even if 95 out of 100 people think it is, even if all 100 think so, it still isn't relevant, because it won't work!

You're right that it's not relevant to the problem, but the fact that so many people believe it's relevant makes it a problem unto itself. If everybody tries to put salt on birds' tails there are bound to be consequences. Like if everybody's concentrating on following birds around trying to shake salt onto their tails and not paying attention to where they're going, somebody's gonna get run over by a bicycle. At the very least, the stores will run out of salt. And if that happens, nobody will want to eat French fries 'cause they really suck without salt.

It's sorta like Dick Cheney. I think he's irrelevant, but there's a big chunk of the American populace who thinks he is relevant. I'm pretty sure one of the people who thinks he's relevant is the asshole who happens to be my U.S. Congressman. The fact that said asshole is empowered to make decisions on my behalf makes what Mr. Cheney says relevant to my situation, whether I like it or not.