{"id":2615,"date":"2016-02-08T22:09:02","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T04:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ryangaffney.com\/wordpress\/?p=2615"},"modified":"2016-02-08T22:09:02","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T04:09:02","slug":"ideas-and-their-misuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2016\/02\/ideas-and-their-misuses.html","title":{"rendered":"Ideas and Their (mis)Uses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ryangaffney.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/village.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"village\" style=\"float: right\" alt=\"village\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ryangaffney.com\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/village_thumb.jpg\" width=\"150\" align=\"right\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a>There is a critique often leveled at my seminary, which I find often has a lot to do with why I disagree with the community opinion about a given idea. That is to condemn the idea, on the basis of it\u2019s historical use.    <\/p>\n<p>In other words, for many of us, if an evil person in the past has used an idea to accomplish something bad, then it\u2019s a bad idea, or it is at least very suspect. I find this critique ridiculous.    <\/p>\n<p>Examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\">Plain reading of the scriptures has been used to justify slavery<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\">Christ\u2019s sacrifice on the cross, has encouraged women to suffer under abusive spouses as a \u201csacrifice\u201d<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\">International Mission has been a vehicle of cultural destruction and colonialism<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"left\">And it\u2019s used on the right as well as the left.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\">Evolution was used by Hitler to justify ethnic cleansing<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\">Columbine Shooters played violent videogames<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"left\">Because it is used so commonly and explicitly here where I live, it has helped me become aware of how often this sort of thinking is used generally. How often have you heard a religion condemned on the basis of religious fanatics? Or seen a political idea made into an \u201c-ism\u201d with the implicit understanding that the -ism is bad because of how it was used before. How often have you seen any idea anyone held compared to Hitler? (Vegitariansm? For shame!)    <\/p>\n<p>Almost never is it considered whether the idea itself necessarily leads to these conditions, or if the idea is being misused. It is just condemned and (usually) rejected wholesale.    <\/p>\n<p>This whole thing falls apart as soon as you begin to pull examples from uncontroversial issues instead of emotional ones.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ryangaffney.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/freeparking-200x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"freeparking-200x150\" style=\"border-top: 0px;border-right: 0px;background-image: none;border-bottom: 0px;float: right;padding-top: 0px;padding-left: 0px;border-left: 0px;padding-right: 0px\" border=\"0\" alt=\"freeparking-200x150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ryangaffney.com\/wordpress\/2016\/02\/freeparking-200x150_thumb.jpg\" width=\"200\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\">Knives have been historically used to stab people. Don\u2019t have them in your house<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\">Many musicians have turned to addictive drugs, keep your kids away!<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div align=\"left\">Stargazing has been the inspiration for the Zodiac and Astrology. It\u2019s both Unscientific, and Satanic<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"left\">So clearly the position is not reasonable or consistent.   <\/p>\n<p>Let me not demonize the people who express this sort of thinking however. I suspect that while what they say may not be rational in the strictest sense, (or even true) it may yet be valid. Suppose what they actually mean to say is \u201cI have felt hurt, either personally or empathetically, by people who hold this idea, and as such I dislike it on an emotional level\u201d    <\/p>\n<p>Well that\u2019s a fair thing to say!     <\/p>\n<p>I daresay if I met someone who had been stabbed over and over again, and I learned he kept no knives in his house I would respect his decision. I would just hope he doesn\u2019t come to my house and judge me for my knives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a critique often leveled at my seminary, which I find often has a lot to do with why I disagree with the community opinion about a given idea. That is to condemn the idea, on the basis of it\u2019s historical use. In other words, for many of us, if an evil person in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ideas and Their (mis)Uses - A Fear of Whales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2016\/02\/ideas-and-their-misuses.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ideas and Their (mis)Uses - A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is a critique often leveled at my seminary, which I find often has a lot to do with why I disagree with the community opinion about a given idea. 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In other words, for many of us, if an evil person in&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2016\/02\/ideas-and-their-misuses.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-09T04:09:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ryangaffney.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/village_thumb.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rgaffney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ideas and Their (mis)Uses - A Fear of Whales","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2016\/02\/ideas-and-their-misuses.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ideas and Their (mis)Uses - A Fear of Whales","og_description":"There is a critique often leveled at my seminary, which I find often has a lot to do with why I disagree with the community opinion about a given idea. 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