General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: FDR Democrats, check in here! [View all]AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)You will have more credibility if you say things which are commonly accepted as being true.
When you stretch things which are commonly accepted as true and stretch a metaphor beyond its commonly accepted meaning, you have less credibility or unnecessarily risk having less credibility.
Josephson's The Robber Barons has been a text book commonly used in liberal arts courses in colleges and universities.
It's a common source for the understanding of the phrase "robber barons." No one can identity an alternative common source for an understanding of that phrase.
Who knows what you mean by "robber barons"? Does that mean anyone of wealth during FDR's Administration with whom you disapprove? For anyone other than you, are we supposed to use our imaginations to try to figure out what you meant? Did FDR really disapprove of all persons of wealth during his Administration? Did he really take them all on? Who other than you knows what you meant.
And no, you don't have to "suppose you wish to give authors their due and neatly catergorize the labels we apply." One of the worst things about some posters is that they falsely attrribute certain statements or beliefs to others. In my world, the truth is good enough. My words speak for themselves.
Although I posted my response to you without malice, and although I think that you lose credibility when you make a statement which is not literally true by stretching a metaphor beyone its commonly understood meaning, the choice to do so is yours.