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Skeptics Would Like Media To Stop Calling Science Deniers 'Skeptics'
Layzej writes: Prominent scientists, science communicators, and skeptic activists, are calling on the news media to stop using the word "skeptic" when referring to those who refuse to accept the reality of climate change, and instead refer to them by what they really are: science deniers. "Not all individuals who call themselves climate change skeptics are deniers. But virtually all deniers have falsely branded themselves as skeptics. By perpetrating this misnomer, journalists have granted undeserved credibility to those who reject science and scientific inquiry."
The whole point of emphasising the difference between an actual sceptic and a denier is that the sceptic questions the science, whereas the denier ignores it entirely. The scientists and others referred to in the article have no problem with the actual sceptics. Questioning the science is fine, disregarding it is not.
Oh no... it's the future.
Creationists, anti-vaxxers, anti-HIV causes AIDS guys, and anti-AGWers can hardly be considered to be utilizing the scientific process honestly, let alone correctly. Hence why actual skeptics want to be distanced from them.
Oh look! An advertisement from 1906 calling copyright infringers "pirates".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Using teh term "pirates" to refer to copyright infringers is nothing new.
Bitching about it, however, is.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
From the statement: "As Fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, we are concerned that the words “skeptic” and “denier” have been conflated by the popular media. Proper skepticism promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims. It is foundational to the scientific method. Denial, on the other hand, is the a priori rejection of ideas without objective consideration."
Doesn't matter. I hear they had words in 1906 they routinely called black people that today are "frowned upon."
"Piracy" a pejorative meant to associate copyright infringement with theft, which it is not. Also murder, scurvy, and parrots.
On the flip side, I also don't like the term "sharing." It's an attempt to associate copyright infringement with an innocuous or altruistic endeavor. It's not.
Words mean things, and I wish people would use them correctly.
Copyright infringement: the illegal copying of a work protected by copyright.
Theft: The unlawful taking of someone's belongings with the intent to deprive them of their use.
Sharing: Willingly giving a portion of your possessions to another, denying you use or benefit thereof.
Copyright infringement is not theft, because the copyright holder is not denied their property. They still have it. (Assuming no trespass or theft of physical property was required to obtain the source material)
Copyright infringement is not sharing. If I share my cake with you, I have given up a portion of my delicious cake I can no longer eat. If I share a ride with you, I've given up my personal space and privacy. But if you copy my file, I haven't given up anything. We both have full use of the file.
Let's just call things what they are, and leave the emotionally loaded words out of it.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.