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Table of Contents
Accuracy describes two different things:
- The quality of the presentation of an argument - how sound it is.
- The meaning of words and how different it is from reality.
For me, the first part is what matters. I want to depict concepts and how they interact - call it “mechanics” or “interactions”. For that I don't need exact words, I need people to understand what I mean. I will strive for maximum accuracy in this regard. “War” and “Proxy War” are both terms to describe what happened in Vietnam, but I am not going to write proxy war. While, yes, “proxy war” will more accurately reflect the nature of the war that happened, what I want to communicate is that people died in a fight they were sent into by a government for political purposes. That there is actually one more government in the chain does not matter at all because the important part here is the people dying and the reason they died for (“Government wants!” is the reason and “But not THIS government, it was the other government!” being irrelevant). At the end of the day, it's a war all over again.
Companies might call it a “new, revised recipe”, but I will continue to call it a “bad marketing scheme”. “But you're missing out on the details! We changed so many things!” Yes, you changed exactly as much as you had to to be able to write “new, revised recipe” on it without getting fined. Jehovah's witnesses may call it “respecting the secular authorities like the bible told them to”, I will continue to call it “rejecting the secular authorities”. That's not what it is? That's absofuckinglutely what it is.
The point is that people always seem to think that their specific ways are so very much different from everything else. They will always add their special flavor to well-established things without making any fundamental changes, but then drag conversations into the mud about these irrelevant details because they're important! Look, just because your Schnitzel has a lemon on top of it doesn't make it any less of a Schnitzel. I will admit, there WILL eventually be a point where talking about this Schnitzel with a lemon on top as “just a Schnitzel” will run into problems, but at this point I will always make the necessary concessions.
The nature of this Wiki
It cannot be understated how important it is to keep in mind that this is how this wiki works - it tries give an idea on how and where I categorize things, and for what reason, NOT to teach specifics or details about any one thing. Jehovah's witnesses “paradise” falls into the category “heaven” in my mind, so that's what I will say. However, this has significant implications for YOU, the reader:
After reading any one of my articles, please do NOT think that you have learned anything. Do not run around and present your newfound “knowledge” as knowledge, because it will make you look like an idiot. Just like my articles will look really dumb to anyone who insists on these details, you will look really dumb to them for leaving out the details or “confusing” things. The reality is that I was very well aware of the “difference” between things but refused to acknowledge the difference (“THE DETAILS!!!”).
I have a special template that I will place on pages that are likely to cause contention because of “lacking nuance”. Those are special disclaimers that I go out of my way for to include, but rest assured that, technically, the disclaimer applies to all content all over the wiki. The notice informs the reader about the contentious nature of certain claims within an article and encourages them to read this page right here to learn my full perspective on the issue.