MennoNet.com

Bootstrap wrote:

gcdonner wrote:You are biased by your theological bent, therefore you can't be objective in your response, therefore you will use circular reasoning to arrive back at the point at which you began, never mind injecting a strawman or making mountains out of molehills, which all originated in the plain...speaking of planes, how much lift will bias add to a flying object?

Could you please diagram that sentence?

If I was editing this I would change it to something like this...

You are biased by your theological bent, so you can't be objective in your response. Because of this, you will use circular reasoning to arrive back at the point where you began. On top of this, you will inject a strawman, or make mountains out of molehills. This all originated in the plain. And since we are speaking of planes, how much lift will bias add to a flying object?

In my estimation George started off on a serious note which gradually deteriorated into the nonsense of the last two sentences. He was probably afraid that he would offend Boot with the first part of the paragraph, so deliberately tried to throw him off track with his pretence of mixing up plane with plain. So I would delete the last two sentences as an attempt to understand George's real feelings. That is what textual critics do to the Bible and the Ante Nicene Fathers all the time. Then they use the edited versions to prove doctrine.

On a more serious note, a bias, a prejudice, and stereotype, have a lot of similarities, mostly on the negative end. Any of them can lead to discrimination. I think a lot of these feelings are unchristian. Wade's definition of being biased in favor of Truth would be an exception, providing that he isn't speaking of a bias towards his particular interpretation of truth.

Bias vs. Stereotype. The difference between bias and stereotype is that a bias is a personal preference, like or dislike, especially when the tendency interferes with the ability to be impartial, unprejudiced, or objective. ... If you think that all Asians are smart, or white men can't dance, that is a stereotype.

A stereotype is a belief about a certain group of people. Prejudice is a feeling about a person based on their membership in a group. Both stereotypes and prejudice can be either positive or negative. Discrimination is an action that denies the rights of a person due to their membership in a group.

The PDF found at this link is a fairly good synopsis of this from a secular perspective.

Indeed there is a difference between 'bias' and 'stereotype' though too often the words are conflated by treating them as synonyms; usually by those hoping to sway opinions via media and popular culture.

In those contexts in which more precise language is paramount, bias is defined in a neutral manner and indicates that both the positive and the negative usage of the word have equal weight.

In our media saturated culture, linguistic precision is a casualty of emotional bloviation.

That's my quota of $5 words for today.

Bootstrap wrote:

gcdonner wrote:You are biased by your theological bent, therefore you can't be objective in your response, therefore you will use circular reasoning to arrive back at the point at which you began, never mind injecting a strawman or making mountains out of molehills, which all originated in the plain...speaking of planes, how much lift will bias add to a flying object?

Could you please diagram that sentence?

Too many hanging participles I expect...

lesterb wrote: If I was editing this I would change it to something like this...

You are biased by your theological bent, so you can't be objective in your response. Because of this, you will use circular reasoning to arrive back at the point where you began. On top of this, you will inject a strawman, or make mountains out of molehills. This all originated in the plain. And since we are speaking of planes, how much lift will bias add to a flying object?

In my estimation George started off on a serious note which gradually deteriorated into the nonsense of the last two sentences. He was probably afraid that he would offend Boot with the first part of the paragraph, so deliberately tried to throw him off track with his pretence of mixing up plane with plain. So I would delete the last two sentences as an attempt to understand George's real feelings. That is what textual critics do to the Bible and the Ante Nicene Fathers all the time. Then they use the edited versions to prove doctrine.

I was still on a roll since my reply to Robert's original post about bias tires... the English language only confuses people who try too hard to understand it...

MaxPC wrote:Indeed there is a difference between 'bias' and 'stereotype' though too often the words are conflated by treating them as synonyms; usually by those hoping to sway opinions via media and popular culture.

In those contexts in which more precise language is paramount, bias is defined in a neutral manner and indicates that both the positive and the negative usage of the word have equal weight.

In our media saturated culture, linguistic precision is a casualty of emotional bloviation.

That's my quota of $5 words for today.

I bought a foam paint brush today at our local hardware/grocery store. The total came to $1.27. Rather than have me break into another dollar bill (I had a quarter...) the cashier said she would put in her 2¢ worth, to which I replied that that should last me for a lifetime... we both had a good laugh over it.

gcdonner wrote: Too many hanging participles I expect...

"Dangling Participles" - another late-great MD thread.
Not sure if there ever was a "Hanging Chad" thread. that was from 2000, so, maybe not.

gcdonner wrote: I was still on a roll since my reply to Robert's original post about bias tires...

the English language only confuses people who try too hard to understand it...

it does keep a lot of people busy and "off the streets."