3 ms·

I have no issue with skepticism but: > I disagree with any fad phrase (emerged in a year or so and suddenly used by everyone, the media, etc) That is not skep

• coldtea 7y ago
  >That is not skepticism, that's denial of anything remotely popular because of its popularity, not because of what it entails or puts forward. Generally speaking, it's healthy (and good skepticism) to be suspect of "anything remotely popular because of its popularity". Not rejecting it outright, but being suspect of it. New things need to prove themselves. How is this in any way controversial? That said, I didn't advocate rejecting "anything remotely popular". I said I reject "fad phrases", not "all new phrases" or "all popular phrases". Fad: "a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal" That is, small terms that emerge out of nothing, are widely adopted from different sides for different purposes, are overloaded with different meanings, and after making their rounds, go out of fashion. And I specifically added the qualification that I'm mostly rejecting those supposed to address deep psychological/societal issues. The dismissal of "what it entails or puts forward" is already present in my usage of "fad". I don't think those terms entail or put forward something significant, and they usually do more to confuse the issues. (I've been old enough to see several such -- if I had been in the 60s and 70s I've had even more of those, now regarded as dead weight).