{"id":49713,"date":"2014-05-17T16:19:21","date_gmt":"2014-05-17T20:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=49713"},"modified":"2014-05-19T09:13:02","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T13:13:02","slug":"media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"Media attacks Rubio’s semantics, prove their own ignorance instead"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Proving that journalistic objectivity is a thing of the past, the Washington Post<\/a><\/em> and MSNBC<\/a> have demonstrated ignorance and irresponsibility in a semantic parsing of Senator Marco Rubio\u2019s simple comments that science shows that life begins at conception.<\/p>\n

Rubio\u2019s statement was in response to comments on the science behind climate change. He said:<\/p>\n

Let me give you a bit of settled science that they’ll never admit to. Science is settled, it’s not even a consensus, it is a unanimity, that human life begins at conception. So I hope the next time that someone wags their finger about science, they’ll ask one of these leaders on the left: ‘Do you agree with the consensus of scientists that say that human life begins at conception?’ I’d like to see someone ask that question.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both the Washington Post<\/em> and MSNBC went at him with arrogant boldness, seemingly determined to wag their fingers about philosophy and religion instead of analyzing science.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Post<\/em> writer Philip Bump declared:<\/p>\n

There’s a blurry line between \u2018pregnancy\u2019 and \u2018life\u2019 in this discussion. When we asked ACOG if the two were interchangeable, we were told that the organization \u2018approach[es] everything from a scientific perspective, and as such, our definition is for when pregnancy begins.\u2019 On the question of when life<\/em> begins, then, the scientific experts we spoke with didn’t offer any consensus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bump continues by trying to sound like Rubio is only speaking from a philosophical view:<\/p>\n

\u2019Life\u2019 is something of a philosophical<\/em> question, making Rubio’s dependence on a scientific argument \u2014 which, it hardly bears mentioning, is an argument about abortion \u2014 politically tricky. After all, if someone were to argue that life begins at implantation, it’s hard to find a moral argument against forms of birth control that prevent that from happening. If that someone were, say, running for president as a conservative Republican, that could be problematic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bump is not alone in trying to attack Rubio on his politics and philosophy rather than the real issue.<\/p>\n

MSNBC\u2019s response, which called\u00a0 Rubio’s comment a \u201cscientific blunder,\u201d was more ironic than anything. Its story on Rubio\u2019s comment criticized him for commenting on abortion at all:<\/p>\n

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio recently fired back at criticism of his stance on climate change \u2013 he said<\/a> last weekend that he did not believe climate change is caused by human activity \u2013 by changing the subject to abortion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So MSNBC changed the subject to show its blatant bias against life. Using a \u201cnews\u201d article as an editorial vehicle, MSNBC said:<\/p>\n

In fact, \u2018life\u2019 and \u2018conception\u2019 aren’t scientific terms, and the rights of a blastocyst, embryo or fetus compared to the pregnant woman aren\u2019t up to scientists; they\u2019re subjective, based on personal, religious, or political commitments. But it\u2019s ironic that Rubio should mention science and abortion. He and his fellow Republicans have passed numerous laws restricting women\u2019s health with stated rationales that directly contravene scientific or medical consensus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MSNBC then uses its space to detail the type of abortion laws Rubio has supported, and then adds more commentary, even branching into South Dakota laws, thus turning its whole article on Rubio into a pro-choice diatribe that really had little to do with Rubio.<\/p>\n

Rubio is scientifically correct, of course, regardless of terms. Unlike these articles, Rubio was commenting on the clarity of scientific evidence, not what terms are used by people. Picking apart semantics \u2014 the difference between pregnancy<\/em> beginning and life<\/em> beginning, for example \u2014 show the ways in which the abortion industry has broken down reality to serve its own purposes. If a woman is pregnant, and if that pregnancy continues, she will birth a life, not a pregnancy. To call life a philosophical or religious term is utter ignorance. In fact, it\u2019s troubling because it suggests that life should be valued only if one\u2019s personal values allow it. The deconstruction of absolutes can only self-destruct.<\/p>\n

Both pieces actually are making political statements as well as moral ones, and both are ludicrous in light of the science, which, indeed, shows that new life begins when sperm and egg fuse – whatever term you give it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proving that journalistic objectivity is a thing of the past, the Washington Post and MSNBC have demonstrated ignorance and irresponsibility in a semantic parsing of Senator Marco Rubio\u2019s simple comments that science shows that life begins at conception. Rubio\u2019s statement was in response to comments on the science behind climate change. He said: Let me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":827,"featured_media":49714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMedia attacks Rubio's semantics, prove their own ignorance instead - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Media attacks Rubio's semantics, prove their own ignorance instead - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Proving that journalistic objectivity is a thing of the past, the Washington Post and MSNBC have demonstrated ignorance and irresponsibility in a semantic parsing of Senator Marco Rubio\u2019s simple comments that science shows that life begins at conception. Rubio\u2019s statement was in response to comments on the science behind climate change. He said: Let me […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-17T20:19:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-19T13:13:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/4180.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e546e5fbb46d771bbe66c0ab7690156c\"},\"headline\":\"Media attacks Rubio’s semantics, prove their own ignorance instead\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-17T20:19:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-19T13:13:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/\"},\"wordCount\":699,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/\",\"name\":\"Media attacks Rubio's semantics, prove their own ignorance instead - Live Action News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-17T20:19:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-19T13:13:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Media attacks Rubio’s semantics, prove their own ignorance instead\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e546e5fbb46d771bbe66c0ab7690156c\",\"name\":\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/429a591954a90dff112876f5f329b226?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/429a591954a90dff112876f5f329b226?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Catherine Livingston, PhD\"},\"description\":\"Catherine Livingston holds a PhD in education from a major U.S. university, and is a researcher and writer who has been a teacher and speaker in the pro-life movement since 2008. Born as the result of rape, she was placed for adoption and is passionate about issues of life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/catherine-livingston\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Media attacks Rubio's semantics, prove their own ignorance instead - Live Action News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Media attacks Rubio's semantics, prove their own ignorance instead - Live Action News","og_description":"Proving that journalistic objectivity is a thing of the past, the Washington Post and MSNBC have demonstrated ignorance and irresponsibility in a semantic parsing of Senator Marco Rubio\u2019s simple comments that science shows that life begins at conception. Rubio\u2019s statement was in response to comments on the science behind climate change. He said: Let me […]","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2014-05-17T20:19:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-05-19T13:13:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/4180.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Catherine Livingston, PhD","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Catherine Livingston, PhD","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/"},"author":{"name":"Catherine Livingston, PhD","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e546e5fbb46d771bbe66c0ab7690156c"},"headline":"Media attacks Rubio’s semantics, prove their own ignorance instead","datePublished":"2014-05-17T20:19:21+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-19T13:13:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/"},"wordCount":699,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/","name":"Media attacks Rubio's semantics, prove their own ignorance instead - Live Action News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-05-17T20:19:21+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-19T13:13:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-attacks-rubios-semantics-prove-their-own-ignorance-instead\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Media attacks Rubio’s semantics, prove their own ignorance instead"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e546e5fbb46d771bbe66c0ab7690156c","name":"Catherine Livingston, PhD","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/429a591954a90dff112876f5f329b226?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/429a591954a90dff112876f5f329b226?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Catherine Livingston, PhD"},"description":"Catherine Livingston holds a PhD in education from a major U.S. university, and is a researcher and writer who has been a teacher and speaker in the pro-life movement since 2008. Born as the result of rape, she was placed for adoption and is passionate about issues of life.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/catherine-livingston\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/827"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}