tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33855769.post7392477824871275732..comments2024-03-28T08:03:32.297-07:00Comments on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Anti-gay leaders incapable of introspection in light of marriage equality lossesBlackTsunamihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349560427762283170noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33855769.post-20643125210070283462014-05-22T08:51:24.395-07:002014-05-22T08:51:24.395-07:00I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed ...I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed the linguistic trick that conservatives are playing in the article - it's the same trick they play with regard to evolution and other forms of science with which they disagree.<br /><br />Conseratives like to say evolution is "only a theory" - which is a deliberate mis-use of the term theory. In popular parlance, a theory is an idea, a working model that can be discarded. But the scientific use of the term theory refers something well-established by evidence and observation, which has strong predictive power. A scientific theory is as close to settled as anything in science can be and generally new evidence supports rather than diminishes a scientific theory. Religious conservatives, however, deliberately conflate the popular use of theory with the scientific use of theory to make it appear that creationism or intelligent design are equally viable.<br /><br />The OneNewsNow article quotes people dismissing various judicial rulings as merely "opinions" or "one man's opinion." They're deliberately conflating and mis-using the term opinion. A legal opinion (as in these rulings) is backed up by precedent, evidence etc. This rhetoric is not accidental. They're attempting to minimize and dismiss the impact of the rulings by ignoring the precedent and logic of the arguments within them and calling them merely "opinions." <br /><br />The goal is obvious - to paint these rulings as transitory, informal and unimportant and the people issuing them as biased opinionators - essentially they're arguing these judges are no different than the talking heads on the news shows, spouting personal opinions and nothing else.glendenbhttp://www.oneutah.orgnoreply@blogger.com