on the abuse of labels in the recent contraception blowup
Whatever else the recent blowup over the ACA contraception mandate might have shown, it's that Americans need a better epistemology. The news story has interested me on many levels and will probably pop up in blog posts from time to time. But one philosophical idea kept seeming to float to the forefront, at least in my mind as I read the different ( Read more... )
Someone who agrees with the talking point that Washington does have a "War Against Religion" is hard to convince otherwise. It's a tactical decision to focus on "Catholics in general don't believe that" rather than "this is religious overreach" because it's easier to PROVE "Catholics in general don't agree with the bishops/pope about birth control".
Instead of "it's persecution!" "No it isn't!" "Yes it is!" that can't be won, the oblique attack of "that isn't popularly accepted doctrine" is a stronger tactice to question the validity of not only whether the bishops can claim there is religious persecution when their congregations aren't being harmed. In addition, it's calling into question the whole non-democratic nature of what the bishops are claiming their religion is.
Someone who would stand would the bigotry without any self-reflection if the argument is Yes! No! Yes! might find reason to question the politics if the unfairness is approached obliquely.
I'm reminded of a discussion on a totally different topic where someone was trying to win the arguement by stating "USA stole the land from Mexico" -- and the other side just laughed and replied what did that have to do with the question of land tenure of farmers that were on the same land for generations? Some questions are illegitimate on their face.
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