Ask Temperance

Tagline: “Almost as good as Ask a Commissioner, but not quite.”

And the first question is: “Are the Commissioners Supporters of Erskine?”

“Ask A Commissioner” says: Specifically, half the commission graduated from Erskine or has an endowed chair. Half the commission was “intentionally” chosen to not be connected to Erskine. Generally, each brought three convictions: love of Christ, love of ARP church, and love of Erskine’s past and “bright future that is possible.”

Temperance says:

Their answer is a great example of a non sequitur: ‘commissioners are connected with Erskine, therefore they are supporters of Erskine.’ This may very well be false: I am connected with the ARP church yet I very much don’t support their actions! I am connected with America yet I don’t support abortion! This is self-evident; just because you are associated with something does not mean you support it.

This leads directly into their second error: equivocation. Yes, the commissioners support Erskine – their version of Erskine. This is like asking a random person on the street if they support America – yes, they probably do, but may certainly want to vote Obama out of office! Or, yes, they certainly do, and love what Obama is doing! This question means something different to each person you ask, which makes the question mean just a bit more than nothing.

In short, Commissioners may be associated with Erskine yet not support it at all, or not support it in its current form. The Commission is bringing Erskine to a place it has never been; a Brave New World they support with all their might. Each of us must define for ourselves whether this is “supporting Erskine” or not based on the Erskine we want to exist; the Commission then either supports our Erskine or seeks to destroy it. I suspect we will reach very different conclusions.

… But come on guys – they’re leading Erskine to a “bright future that is possible” so duh! Of course they support Erskine.