A Bit of Orange

Welcome again to Feedback Friday! This installment follows the last as a faithful reader named “Danny” was outraged that I had defined “Atheist” to mean “Atheist.” In this post he continued to try and explain to me why I was an idiot. 

Adopting one definition does not mean, as you assert that we cannot also use others.

As before, this was his ENTIRE comment. To which I replied: 

I did not assert that.
Straw man!
(This logical fallacy is brought to you by The Logical Fallacy of the Month)

And he retorted:

You should watch your own videos. You might be surprised at what they contain.

“My problem with this is not only that they wish to change the definition of a word so that it no longer means what it’s meant for the past 3,000 years, but that means we can no longer use that word to refer to the people we have always referred to with that word.”

This was the entire comment. He quoted me and then said nothing more about it. So I said:

Watch my own videos? Forget that. I’m not wasting my time on those after I’ve read all of your comments about them.

I’m gonna see what’s new on Netflix.

And nice quote there. Who said that? Because that guy is RIGHT on the money. For real! What are we supposed to call Atheists if atheist now means agnostic?
I’d subscribe to that guy’s channel. Right on.

While I’m not entirely sure he even read what I said, Danny replied again:

Your ability even the most obvious point is duly noted. Goodbye.

And I replied:

Thanks Danny, your ability even the most obvious proof reading your own comments is dooly noted too. BYE!

Welcome once again to Feedback Fridays where in I take actual viewer mail and reply to it with my own special blend of herbs and spices! This comment, presented in it’s entirety from THIS post, was the beginning of an enlightening exchange about the definition of the word “Atheist” (or “Atheism”) which continued on following posts:

Meh, …Interesting that you simply announce the definition of atheist, as if it were up to you to declare the meaning of the word. As long as we are throwing the word ‘stupid’ around, that’s in there.

And yes, not only is this his entire comment, but he chose to begin with “Meh.” Also, I’m not sure what he meant by “As long as we are throwing the word ‘stupid’ around, that’s in there.” Stupid is in Atheism? I don’t think that was his point, but maybe it should have been mine? But I digress. I replied:

Thanks for your comment, Dan,
I hope you can at least appreciate that I define clearly what I mean when I use the word. I know there is some dispute about it, but if you mean something different when you use it, at least you know what I mean when I use it.
And frankly, I think anyone can and ought to declare the meaning of words. That’s how we come to understand each other. Step one, define your terms. I find a lot of arguments stem from people either misusing words, or believing they are using words the same when they are not.

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