"Polarized" or "polarizing" opinions?
English is a foreign language to me, and one word that is particularly confusing is "polarize". In physics, it has contradictory definitions; when polarizing waves you remove inequality, but polarizing can also mean to cause something to acquire polarity, or in other word emphasize inequality. When applied to opinions, however, people usually seem to have the second definition in mind.
- In a Huffington Post blog entry, I found the phrase "polarized opposite opinions". Is this an indication that "polarized opinions" on its own could be interpreted as "unified opinions" unless clarified? Otherwise, how should I understand the phrase?
- I've compared the number of search results for "polarized opinions" and "polarizing opinions", and the latter seems to be more popular. Nevertheless, to me that one seems to imply that the opinions themselves bear the responsibility of dividing people into groups, instead of blaming the people who formulate the opinions. Is that correct, or is there another distinction between "polarized" and "polarizing"?
Thanks!
Solution 1:
Polarized opinions does not necessarily imply two opposite opinions, it implies two different opinions. While in the strictest sense, of magnetic or charge poles, the two poles will indeed be opposite, the same does not necessarily hold true of opinions. In everyday usage, the phrase polarized opinions implies that a group of people have different (usually strong) opinions on a particular subject. Yes, they do tend to be mutually exclusive but they need not be opposite as such.
As for polarized vs. polarizing, they are both correct, they just mean different things. For example, both these sentences are perfectly correct:
Abortion is a polarizing issue
and
Our society is polarized with respect to abortion
It is the same principle as and other verb, for example heating and heated.
Solution 2:
Huffington Post is a site that must sometimes be read with an appreciation for satire. The post starts:
I have friends and acquaintances who for years I've known to be rational, intelligent and competent. Most have careers doing complex sophisticated work... Try it with discipline in parenting, with health care reform, with the recent Zimmerman verdict. Pick any issue or current event which purports to have a "dialogue" associated with it. You'll likely find a pair of polarized opposite opinions, each assuming the other to be untrustworthy and potentially dangerous.
This is an example of tautology
In rhetoric, a tautology is when a meaning is repeated; this is often done using different words that say the same thing. Most often this is used unintentionally (say the same thing twice), but it can of course also be used for emphasis.
It can also be used for irony or satire, which is the reason I believe Mr. Muzeo is using it, especially as the article is titled "Our Opinions Are Dumbing Us Down". If he is not using it intentionally, then he is proving his point, as tautologies are usually taken as an example of sloppy writing.
Famously bad (or good) tautologies:
"They are simply going to have to score more points than the other team to win the game" - John Madden
"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls" / "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it" / "If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure" (all 3 Dan Quayle)
"I used to be an agnostic, but now I’m not so sure." Yogi Berra
I want to live while I am alive - Bon Jovi
Author Dan Brown's writing is full of tautologies, so much so that one book critic imitated his style, s writing,
Renowned author Dan Brown got out of his luxurious four-poster bed in his expensive $10 million house and paced the bedroom, using the feet located at the ends of his two legs to propel him forwards.