The reader poll caught my eye. Something about the wording seems odd.
“Should silent prayer be banned outside abortion clinics?
[ ] Yes, no one should feel unsafe trying to access abortion clinics
[ ] No, there is a human right to freedom of thought”
aaronbaugher · 4h ago
It seems odd because it assumes you agree that silent prayer would make people feel unsafe, and that prayer is a form of "freedom of thought." You could agree that freedom of thought is a human right, but not think that applies to prayer. You could also think silent prayer outside abortion clinics won't make people feel unsafe, but still think it should be banned. Unless you agree with at least one of the assumptions they're baking into the answers, you can't give a satisfactory answer.
The question itself is very simple, and the answers should be "yes" and "no." All the rest is message.
cobbzilla · 2h ago
would you call this a false dichotomy? agree it’s very confusing.
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF · 30m ago
Yes, it's a false dichotomy. There are two requirements for a pair of choices to form a dichotomy, which are that they must be "mutually exclusive" and "jointly exhaustive". The former meaning that there must be no instances which are shared by both choices and the latter meaning that they must encompass all possible instances.
There are some people who would say yes for a different reason than what is given and same for people who would say no. Additionally, it's possible someone could think both things and still meaningfully answer one or the other (while ignoring the prescribed motive).
jjgreen · 4h ago
No problem with someone standing outside her front door for hours "in silent prayer" then?
“Should silent prayer be banned outside abortion clinics?
[ ] Yes, no one should feel unsafe trying to access abortion clinics
[ ] No, there is a human right to freedom of thought”
The question itself is very simple, and the answers should be "yes" and "no." All the rest is message.
There are some people who would say yes for a different reason than what is given and same for people who would say no. Additionally, it's possible someone could think both things and still meaningfully answer one or the other (while ignoring the prescribed motive).