On 8/7/06, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
On 8/7/06, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
"NPOV is fairly describing things or beliefs without succumbing to them."
Oh, I do like that one. How about "without advocating them"?
I think "succumbing" has the extra meaning that often one "succumbs" to a belief by attempting to debunk it. This was common at [[Safe Speed]] for instance - although most of the group's claims were clearly baloney, some of our editors were getting sucked into attempting to disprove them, falling afoul of NPOV. I'm not sure how to put that succinctly though - "without taking a side"? "without trying to prove or disprove them"? "without regard to their inherent worth"?
Steve
I was going for a sort of protean conception there- we all have different ideas of what "succumbing" to a POV might be; perhaps it is simply avoiding it and not speaking of it, or mentioning things one should not, etc. But it always contains a sense that you are treating this subject different than other subjects. Its opposite, not succumbing, carries connotations of objective trustworthiness: if one has not succumbed, then one can be trusted to give an informative and inherently fair account of matters (to the best of one's ability).
Besides, it isn't a commonly used word and makes it wonderfully succint.
~maru