It often drives me crazy that so many of us have difficulty saying anything plainly anymore. Tonight on the news I heard again three words that have become media mainstays: "improvised explosive device". Why don't they just say "bomb"? That's what it is!
Of course, I already know the answer. It's the very same reason many call creationism intelligent design. It's rebranding -- taking a word or phrase with a negative connotation and trying to give it an aura of something less toxic.
Calling a bomb an "improvised explosive device" doesn't sound as violent and calling creationism intelligent design makes it sound more mainstream. In the end, though, it doesn't matter how one tries to dress up a concept.
A bomb is a bomb.
Of course, I already know the answer. It's the very same reason many call creationism intelligent design. It's rebranding -- taking a word or phrase with a negative connotation and trying to give it an aura of something less toxic.
Calling a bomb an "improvised explosive device" doesn't sound as violent and calling creationism intelligent design makes it sound more mainstream. In the end, though, it doesn't matter how one tries to dress up a concept.
A bomb is a bomb.
Ok. Creationism is not Intelligent Design. Many of the people who work for the Discovery Institute are not only Christians, but Muslims and Jews as well. Intelligent Design does not say that the Christian God created the world in six days. It simply says that this universe can only be explained through some sort of external designer. It makes no claims as to who, or even what, that designer is. Creationism is a specialized form of intelligent design in which the earth was created by the Jewish/Christian God. You could say that creationism is a subdivision of intelligent design. It's the very same reason many call creationism intelligent design. It's rebranding -- taking a word or phrase with a negative connotation and trying to give it an aura of something less toxic. They're not the same at all. This is akin to saying that people are dressing up biology when they don't call it science. Is this the case? No, of course not. Biology is a subdivison (if you will) of science, namely, the study of life. Creationism is the specific view of what intelligent designer designed this universe. Intelligent Design and the Discovery Institute makes no claims at all that this designer is God or anything else. They just claim that some sort of intelligent being has to have created our universe. Clearly not the view that creationists hold.
ReplyDeleteBy saying "improvised explosive device", the authors/writers are specifying what type of bomb, i.e., homemade from materials at hand. If they just say "bomb", that's a bit less descriptive, and the context may imply something more professionally manufactured.
ReplyDeleteTyler - ID proponents and the DI are careful not to explicitly say that God is the designer, but they do imply it. Or perhaps you think it was the Flying Spaghetti Monster? That said, I have to admire the way creationist arguments have adapted over time to survive in a changing environment.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteIt would be hard to argue that creationism is a subdivision of ID because the former came before the latter.
Scott,
Does it matter if a "device" was homemade or professionally manufactured? They both blow things up -- people, animals, buildings, etc.
No, it doesn't make much difference, especially to the victims. I just meant to say that it's akin to the difference between "boat" and "canoe". They specified what category of bomb.
ReplyDeleteIt would be hard to argue that creationism is a subdivision of ID because the former came before the latter.
ReplyDeleteCounting came before mathematics. Does this mean that it is not a subdivision of mathematics?