Argument Made by Redefining Terms

Recently I have run into three books all with the same malady. I hope it is not contagious. What these authors are doing is beginning their works by redefining one of the words that is central to their subject matter, then proceeding to build the entire argument of their book on the redefined word. It is not a fair way to approach a topic. 

I first ran into it in a religious book that began by redefining “created’ as used in Genesis. Now it would have been okay with me if the author had simply explained that the ancient Hebrew word translated as “created” had a broader or deeper meaning, but it seemed to me that he had explained away the creation by redefining the word. To him “created” meant that God had moved into the world He had made earlier.

But then I ran into the book I am finishing now. It is about race, one of my favorite subjects lately. In fact, I wrote a book on the topic titled “Growing Up White in the Heart of Memphis” (amazon.com/author/davidmay). I’ve done a lot of thinking about it and I truly believe that I am not a racist. This author, a white woman, writing about what makes it hard for White people to talk about race, began with a redefinition of “racism.” She defined it very broadly, then painted all White people with a broad (White) brush, concluding that all White people are racist. She says we cannot avoid it. It is a result of the White privilege we have grown up with and the White dominated culture in which we live. Then she went on lay out an argument that strongly implied that if you disagreed with anything she said, that proves you are a racist. 

The woman writing about race had some good points and pointed out some things I need to pay more attention to, but her stereotyping of all White people as racists and her redefinition of terms colored the rest of the book. Likewise, the man writing about creation made some interesting points and the group that was discussing the book had some good conversations about it. Nevertheless, redefining commonly accepted terms is not a fair way to begin a conversation, especially a one-way discussion like a book.