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The word is “arophobia” \ n. (arophobe n., arophobic adj.). Its definition is as follows: “The intense, abnormal, or illogical fear of reason evidenced by personal attacks and/or attempts to place derogatory labels on those with differing views.”
To understand the etymology of this new word, you should know that the Indo-European root of the word “reason” is “ar,” which means “to fit together.” Derivatives include words such as “army,” “harmony,” and “arithmetic.” In other words, one who is able to reason is one who is able to fit things together and make some sense out of them. When coupled with the familiar suffix, “phobia,” which means “inordinate fear,” you have this word, “arophobia.” Thus my counsel: Don’t be an arophobe.
I’ll share another quick story to exemplify an occasion when I believe use of this word would have been appropriate. A couple of months ago I was invited to be a guest on a one-hour radio talk show originating in Austin, Texas and accessible nationwide over the internet. I joined the broadcast via telephone.
The one other guest on the show was in studio, I’ll call him Steve, a homosexual man who with his partner was trying to adopt a child. Steve was an attorney there in Austin and was active in the community in promoting a homosexual political agenda. The recent Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas on sodomy was part of the discussion, as was a possible federal marriage amendment and adoption by same-sex couples.
During the discussion on adoption, Steve asserted in passing that potential fears relating to pedophilia among homosexuals were unfounded and that there were no differences between homosexual couples and heterosexual couples. Being aware of several studies that challenge this assertion, I thought it needful to share them. As I did so, Steve immediately became emotionally charged and began shouting irrationally into the microphone, “Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar!” Although I could hear his voice over the telephone, I could also hear my own and therefore just kept talking.
Others listening to the show later told me that his voice completely drowned mine out, and that my level voice could only be heard when he took a breath. When I stopped speaking, and he stopped shouting, the host of the show attempted to make a reconciliatory statement and broke for commercials. Although a man practiced in rational argument, Steve’s only response had been to abandon reason and attack the messenger. Although I never met the man personally, I am left to conclude that Steve is arophobic.
