Comment on billionaires are a cancer on society [literally]

• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  You are refuting an argument that I did not make.

  I am refuting the argument that would need to be made in order to support your position. I clearly specified that necessity in my refutation. “Cancer” and “billionaire” would have to be synonymous, not analogous, for “literal” to have been used correctly.

  What type of cancer are billionaires? Carcinomas are cancers of epithelial tissue, but “society” does not have epithelial tissue. Sarcomas are cancers of musculoskeletal and connective tissues, but “society” does not have bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. Myelomas are cancers of the plasma cells in bone marrow, but again, “society” doesn’t have bones. Leukemias are cancers of the various blood cells, but society doesn’t have “blood”. Lymphomas are cancers of the lymphatic system, but society doesn’t have one of those either.

  In fact, “society” does not have biological tissues or organs that could even become literally cancerous. (Members of society do, indeed, have these various organs and tissues, but no member of society has been diagnosed with a “Bezosma” or “Muskaemia”.)

  “Billionaires are cancer” is a metaphor. “Billionaires are literally cancer” is simply a false statement, unless “literally” was used, incorrectly, as hyperbole.

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  • tate@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “Billionaires are literally cancer” is simply a false statement, unless “literally” was used, incorrectly, as hyperbole.

    That is my point. Literally can be used correctly in a statement that is not correct, and my reading of the original post is that was OP’s intention. They did not misuse the word “literally.”

    I’m not debating the meaning of the word cancer.

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    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      So, billionaires are not “literally” cancer, but “billionaires are literally cancer” is supposedly a correct use of “literally”?

      “Literally” was not correctly used in this sentence. As used in the sentence, “literally” is synonymous with “figuratively”, which is an incorrect useage of “literally”.

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      • tate@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Sorry for the multiple replies btw. My app is acting weird.

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      • tate@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        “Billionaires are literally cancer” is false specifically because “literally” does not mean “figuratively”.

        Correct. But that is not what OP said. Read it again and I think you will see that OP is saying that “Billionaires are cancer” is not a figurative statement at all, but a literal one. You can disagree with them (I do, btw), but they have not misused the word “literally.”

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