I find the use of the term 'liar' very interesting from Ophelia.Skep tickle wrote:Aneris is down the rabbit hole:
I've mentioned before that I have been a long term reader of Butterflies and Wheels and those of you who read that site four or five years ago will also notice the change in the usage of 'liar' and 'lies'.
Up until a few years back Butterflies and Wheels used to be hosted in the UK and the domain was held by Jeremy Stangroom.
Due to UK libel laws they (the writers (Benson) and owners (Stangroom) of Butterflies and Wheels were paranoid about calling anyone a liar - since that, if incorrect, is libelous in the UK.
Hence you had Ophelia patrolling the comment sections like a hawk and deleting any instance of anyone being called a liar -or at least anyone who might sue.
But the Stangroom/Benson writing team fell apart during the accomodationist wars and Stangroom, making a clean break of it, turned over the keys of the blog to Ophelia, and she shifted the hosting to a US based company.
I don't think the shift in her attitude to 'liar' happened immediately but was more of a gradual process - leading to what we see today.
How I would describe Ophelia's use of liar is as follows:
Ophelia treats the word liar as having three separate meanings.
1. "A person who has told something that I disagree with".
This is her standard response to being told something based on evidence (such as quoting her own words, or those of her favorite sycophants) that deviates from the script of FTB=good, non FTB=bad.
Usually the use of liar in this circumstance is just another word for "bad" since there is no amount of evidence that will get Ophelia to withdraw the charge - she will just move on to a new attack.
2. "A person who has said something that is wrong".
This definition is close to the standard popular notion of liar - although it doesn't require intent to deceive. Making a factual error (for example saying that one commenter said something when in fact it was another - or getting the quote slightly wrong, even if the message is the same, is enough to be labeled a liar.
This definition is often conflated with definition 1 - because Ophelia and commenters don't generally bother to check sources, particularly if they fear the facts might not line up in their favor.
3. "A person who has said something that they know is wrong"
This definition requires absolute knowledge that the statement is incorrect and the intent to deceive others.
Ophelia uses this definition whenever anyone accuses HER of telling an untruth.
How can you call her a liar unless you know that she knew what she saw saying was untrue - and since you cannot possibly KNOW what she believed at that time you have no basis for assuming she was lying rather than simply being incorrect.
This intellectual hopscotch - jumping between the different definitions in order to further your own progress in a debate - is, perhaps, one of the defining techniques of SJW rhetoric.
Feminism is the notion that women are people.
Feminism is the advocacy for the rights of women.
Feminism is the organized opposition to the patriarchal dominated rape culture in which we find ourselves.
Choose whatever definition suits the moment and discard it at a moments notice for the next definition if that one works better in the argument. And then switch back again when required.
The fact that the definitions may be incompatible with each other is beside the point. It takes too long for your opponent to explain that and if they try you just accuse them of trying to derail the argument.
It is pretty much the exact equivalent of what you find in religious debate - the switch between literal and metaphorical meanings of sacred texts. These are incompatible and yet it is standard practice for apologists to do the same kind of intellectual hopscotch - hence you end up with internally contradictory positions like the Catholic churches teachings on Adam and Eve (the story is a metaphor but they really did exist!)
This kind of rhetorical sleight of hand is so common it must have a name - some generic fallacy, but I don't know what it's called.