Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Incredulity Belies Ignorance, and Insult
Sheep's Crib links to a couple of pieces about people of faith in politics and faith as it relates to political issues. One is an ITV interview with Tony Blair regarding his faith. I am struck by how the questions sound incredulous, as if a man that had the ability to rise to the job of Prime Minister of the UK could not possibly be ignorant enough to believe in God. The other link there is a more standard pacifist Christian rant, again in an incredulous tone.
Have you ever thought about how much is communicated by tone? In both cases, the incredulous tone serves to be dismissive of the contrary point-of-view. It's down right insulting. One is left without any retort, for merely by tone anything one utters has been reduced to silliness. It's an admittedly effective rhetorical technique, even if completely devoid of substantitive arguement.
Reading it is one thing, but I wonder how many of us as Christians have experienced it first hand. I have, and I must say I am truly tempted to slap them every time. In the end its a subtle form of bigotry.
I think it may be time to start calling people on it. "Did you know if I spoke to you that way, you'd call be a bigot?" Something like that. I'm getting really tired of it.
Related Tags: secularism, political correctness, incredulity, ignorance, arguement, dismissive, bigotted
Have you ever thought about how much is communicated by tone? In both cases, the incredulous tone serves to be dismissive of the contrary point-of-view. It's down right insulting. One is left without any retort, for merely by tone anything one utters has been reduced to silliness. It's an admittedly effective rhetorical technique, even if completely devoid of substantitive arguement.
Reading it is one thing, but I wonder how many of us as Christians have experienced it first hand. I have, and I must say I am truly tempted to slap them every time. In the end its a subtle form of bigotry.
I think it may be time to start calling people on it. "Did you know if I spoke to you that way, you'd call be a bigot?" Something like that. I'm getting really tired of it.
Related Tags: secularism, political correctness, incredulity, ignorance, arguement, dismissive, bigotted
