{"id":5048,"date":"2017-02-03T17:17:51","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=5048"},"modified":"2017-02-03T17:17:51","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:17:51","slug":"question-begging-and-terms-of-preference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=5048","title":{"rendered":"Question-begging and terms of preference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Dysphemisms and euphemisms – it’s all in the naming when it comes to the rhetoric of a cause.\u00c2\u00a0 So one side’s freedom-fighters<\/em> are the other side’s guerillas <\/em>or insurgents.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em>And now it comes to what terms to use for those who protest much of the Trump Presidency.\u00c2\u00a0 From the start, the term resistance<\/em> was appealing for those who were sympathetic with the protester-cause.\u00c2\u00a0 And for those who see it as mere trouble-making by sore losers, it’s obstructionism<\/em> or public tantrums.<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0 Fair enough, really.\u00c2\u00a0 What really matters is whether the folks have a point.<\/p>\n

But that’s just it — if you think they’ve got a point, then that determines the term to use.\u00c2\u00a0 So far, this is the sensible thought shared by many, and Varad Mehta at NRO (with a nicely barbed title, “Resistance is Facile”<\/a>) makes similar remarks.\u00c2\u00a0 But then he sees a fallacy behind it all when it comes to reporting on the matter:<\/p>\n

\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an element of circular reasoning involved:<\/strong> The media reports on the resistance because the resistance exists because the media reports on the resistance. But thinking something doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it real.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But the second part of the circle isn’t part of the question-begging, is it?\u00c2\u00a0 That is, the media may report on the ‘resistance’ because it is happening and is pretty widespread.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the first part.\u00c2\u00a0 But the second part isn’t part of the issue, is it?\u00c2\u00a0 Moreover, the resistance doesn’t exist because the media reports on it.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, it’s something that people are doing on their own, organizing through social media, and so on.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not because CNN set up some cameras.<\/p>\n

So, the lesson is that, to use Mehta’s words, just thinking something is circular reasoning doesn’t make it circular.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dysphemisms and euphemisms – it’s all in the naming when it comes to the rhetoric of a cause.\u00c2\u00a0 So one side’s freedom-fighters are the other side’s guerillas or insurgents.\u00c2\u00a0 And now it comes to what terms to use for those who protest much of the Trump Presidency.\u00c2\u00a0 From the start, the term resistance was appealing … Continue reading Question-begging and terms of preference<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204],"tags":[739,1608,2108,1614],"class_list":["post-5048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-specious-allegations-of-fallacy","tag-circular-arguments","tag-circular-explanation","tag-dysphemism","tag-euphemism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5050,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5048\/revisions\/5050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}