Voters of Somerville! State Representative Ciampa, who voted to outlaw gay marriage, now has a challenger, Carl Sciortino. Sciortino seems to have the right ideas about housing too. I guess, at least, Ciampa is sticking to his guns… because despite what the right says about “anti-democratic judicial activism,” voting against gay marriage is voting yourself out of office in Davis Square.
Speaking of which, the Globe had a good article which I can’t seem to find online (they have a terrible website…) about the phrase “the traditional meaning of marriage” and how it’s a good example of the etymylogical fallacy. That particular error is made when one argues that the historical definition of a word necessarily has some sort of bearing on its current or future definition. That is, in my grandmother’s day, “cool” meant chilly, but that’s got no bearing on arguments about hipness or jazz. The article also notes that “wedlock,” the most common pre-Norman Anglo-Saxon word for marriage, actually means “contract proceedings” and could well be applied to any particular contract, such as land, feudal tribute, or car leasing.
On the editoral page, of course, Jeff Jacoby commits all the logical mistakes outlined above. My favorite part, however, is where Jacoby complains that the arguments of the anti-marriage right have been portrayed as bigoted.
I know it hurts to be insulted that way, Jeff, but that’s called “accurate reporting.” Nobody wants to hear it, especially not in a headline, but you really are a bigoted and ignorant bastard. I’m sure that the former Rev. Shanley could appreciate the pain of being vilified by the right-thinking world at large, but that doesn’t make it any less fair or just to portray you as a bigot than it was to portray Shanley as a sexual predator.
I wonder if Jacoby has been assigned to make flawed arguments so the Globe can claim it makes some token effort to appease its presumably crucial rich-bigot audience (the poor bigot, of course, reads the Herald), or if he actually believes what he says. Either way, I pity him. He and Nick Petreley make me think I could succeed as a journalist if only I slept with the right people– although I shudder to think of the people I’d have to sleep with. I mean, Jacoby. Ewww.
Secretly Ironic 