Time to retire the M-word

[skepticscott]

http://www.salon.com/news/plane_crashes/index.html?story=/tech/col/smith/2010/08/18/don_t_call_them_miracles

We're perhaps not being asked to take the term literally -- to believe that some supernatural force or deity has lent its power. But to those who see it that way, consider for a moment the odd benevolence of a deity who saves one at the expense of dozens, or hundreds of others. If those children who were pulled alive from the wreckage of Yemenia and Afriqiyah, et al., were indeed saved by miracles, what of those who perished? Can we chalk up their fate to some reverse miracle? Thus, the pretense of supernatural intervention is not, by itself, the main problem, but rather the way in which it is alleged, whereby one person's miracle is everybody else's curse.

This trend isn't going away, probably. At this point the M-word has become almost as pervasive in American media culture as the H-word (hero). In the US Airways Hudson incident, both of these terms were overplayed to a nauseating extreme.

Maybe this bothers me more than it should, but it seems indicative of, among other things, the devolved state of news reporting and a sort of continued infantilizing of the American consciousness. Aside from the contradictions already cited, it's exasperating that we are so inclined to credit the supernatural rather than credit, say, the design of the aircraft or skill or the crew. By the same token, much as we're thankful for this unseen hand when the outcome is something fortunate, we are eager to blame ourselves when it's not. It's tedious, hypocritical and offensive, not to mention insulting to the thousands of victims of air crashes who weren't so, well, lucky.

[rrneck]

1. I can't think of any reason

to apply the M word to any empirically observable phenomena. For some people a change of heart or anything approaching a better understanding of themselves or, wonder of wonders, a conscience might rate miracle.

[skepticscott]

2. There appear to be many people

who are eager to apply the M-word at every opportunity. But if the god they credit them to actually existed, he would have no problem producing the kind of "empirically observable phenomena" that really would qualify. No shortage of rationalizations of his reasons for not doing so, though...have to admire that.

[rrneck]

4. I had a friend years ago who was fresh out of a masters nursing program

and was having a hard time finding a job. She finally landed a pretty good gig and she gave god credit for making it happen. I wondered why, if she wanted to give god credit for something, give him credit for making her a highly trained and motivated person who would make a great psych nurse.

Howzit god has to transcend physics to be thank worthy? It always seems to have to be something special just for the person who receives the blessing. It's like spiritual exceptionalism through mass marketing or something.

[skepticscott]

7. Howzit god always gets the thanks

but never the blame? How does she know it wasn't god that kept her from getting a job to begin with, and her own perseverance that overcame that?

And god can't transcend physics, btw, only our current crude understanding of it. But some folk have the emotional and psychological need to invoke him to explain all sorts of things that can be dealt with much more mundanely.

[rbixby]

10. That's a great question!

I guess its because God never does anything bad, so why would you ever blame him for anything? Its all part of his 'divine plan' so quit yer bitchin!


Which brings up a few paradoxes that no one has ever been able to rationalize away.

Did God create evil? If not, then he didn't create everything. If so, then God is capable of evil.

Does God have the ability to stop suffering? If yes, then he is malevolent and enjoys making people suffer. If no, then he is impotent.


Granted, I respect the beliefs of those who choose to believe, but when people start to give me a hard time, I bring these up and their heads start spinning.

[Silent3]

3. You've posted this article just when we need it most.

It's a miracle! :evilgrin:

[blueworld]

11. LOL! Took the snark right out of my mouth...n/t

[cleanhippie]

13. [phone]

[DeSwiss]

5. K&R

Miracle

A miracle is an unexpected event attributed to divine intervention. Sometimes an event is also attributed (in part) to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that God may work with the laws of nature to perform what people perceive as miracles. Theologians say that, with divine providence, God regularly works through created nature yet is free to work without, above, or against it as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle">Wikipedia

This would be a miracle --------->

[Raster]

9. That's the nice thing about attributing actions to imaginary beings....

win, lose, succeed, fail, life, death... they're all covered. BTW, I *LOVE* your sig line and graphic!

[DeSwiss]

14. TY n/t :-)

[iris27]

6. Ugh...exhibit A...my mother.

My grandfather's standard, fully expected medical recovery from stroke through long months of physical and occupational therapy was, according to her, "undoubtedly a miracle".

My uncle's untimely death at age 45 due to horrid medical malpractice, complications of surgery, and plug-happy relatives, however, was "God's mysterious plan".

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[Jokerman]

8. The capricious use of the M-word has always annoyed me.

Particularly when it is used by the media. There's alway someone willing to attribute just about anything to divine intervention and inevitably the headline becomes "Some have called it a miracle".

[dmallind]

12. The problem here is sloppy usage, as is not unusual.

The word miracle over time has evolved from being used to describe something that should inspire awe and wonder (it's original meaning) by common vernacular usage to apply to divine intervention. And yet the wheel is turning as people now often use miracle to simply mean "fortunate". It's a miracle I didn't get a ticket doing 85 all the way home (nope it's just that the number of miles of road per police officer means that it's hardly even unlikely). It's a miracle a miner was pulled out of the collapsed pit after three days (nope it's just that collapsing rocks do not always form perfect seals - which really would be a miracle if they did - and healthy humans can survive for several days with no food and water. What really rescued him was human effort and engineering).

These two usages - and we should remember dictionaries list usages; etymology is often needed to get to accurate intended meaning - are conflated. We don't really know that the wife saying it's a miracle her husband survived the pit collapse means that she thinks it's divine intervention or just really lucky. All too often sadly they add other opinions that make it clear they meant the former, but it's not universal.

As is often the case we should simply strive for more accurate and precise use of fungible terms. Miracle is a good example of this.

[dimbear]

15. It seems a little unfair how hard it is to describe supernaturally bad events

What is the term of art? Satanic miracle? And they don't get much press. Example: the astonishing survival of Adolph Hitler through all the assassination attempts directed at him.