In An Honest Debate Semantics Matter, Emotions Don't | The Odyssey Online

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In An Honest Debate Semantics Matter, Emotions Don't

If we want to have an open, honest and informed discussion then we need to understand what the semantics are, because semantics are honesty.

Mar 20, 2018

University of North Carolina

151

Jericho Cook

Right now I'm in the middle of an article series called Let's Talk Gun Control. Thus far, I've published two articles in this series. The first took a look at violent crime rates in the U.S. from 1960 to 2013 and gun ownership rates in the U.S. from 1972 to 2017. The second broke down gun homicide data from the FBI from 2012 to 2016, a study of mass shootings in the U.S. from 1982 to 2012 and a report by the CDC regarding self defensive uses of firearms by victims of crime. I received substantial negative feedback via Facebook comments and messages that all circulated around one thing: semantics. Essentially, the point of conflict was, "Why do semantics matter?" So, for my first vlog post I wanted to address the topic of semantics and why it matters to point them out and to be made aware of them.

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