Last night Rachel said she "was an Agnostic " when it came to Mueller's

[Ninga]

report/findings...etc. Basically, being an Agnostic equals no belief.

This made me feel very disheartened. If Rachel has no belief, does that equal no hope?

[Ilsa]

1. No, I think she is just trying to remain

objective in her expectations. She wants to see what happens. It's okay to hope for a little help from Mueller, though.

[dewsgirl]

7. This is how I understood it.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. I didn't get that

Agnostic meant no belief one way or the other - and I took that to mean 'wait and see'.

I agree by the way - and I also believe that if this is wrapping up in the next few weeks - 2019 is going to be a shaky year for America.

[Pachamama]

3. She has plenty of beliefs - I am certain she meant she had no opinion formed on what will happen

[grumpyduck]

4. Without watching the clip

or reading her mind, I tend to agree that she's just staying neutral for now. Good policy for a TV commentator. Maybe bad choice of words.

[jberryhill]

5. I can't imagine being so hung up on every word that comes out of a TV commentator

[WeekiWater]

6. This.

While I don't watch her show it has been made pretty clear that she is very intelligent. She probably plans on being around for a while and doesn't want to go too far into the guessing game. Their words are out there for everyone to see, over and over again.

[FSogol]

16. Exactly. Some people need better hobbies.

[Ninga]

20. It's kinda mean to suggest I have a problem. Words matter.

1.
relating to agnostics or agnosticism.
synonyms: skeptical, doubting, questioning, unsure, cynical, unbelieving, disbelieving, nonbelieving, faithless, irreligious; More

[LanternWaste]

50. I imagine it's much like being so hung up on a poster's benign habits.

I also imagine a distinction between the two, lacking a relevant difference, would be justified.

[blogslut]

8. That's not what agnostic means.

It means one does not know and that's exactly what she said.

[Ninga]

21. Or this.....?

1.
relating to agnostics or agnosticism.
synonyms: skeptical, doubting, questioning, unsure, cynical, unbelieving, disbelieving, nonbelieving, faithless, irreligious; More

[blogslut]

29. Nope.

She explicitly said "I don't know."

As an Agnostic I was quite pleased to hear her use the word correctly.

[NurseJackie]

47. Exactly! Thank you.

Exactly! Thank you. "a" = without ... "gnostic" = knowledge.

Put them all together they spell agnostic: a word that means without knowledge. She did indeed use the word correctly.

[minoan]

9. She was referring to the timing of the report being finished

She didn't say that she was agnostic about the report itself but agnostic that it would be finished soon. That is a huge difference

[Sneederbunk]

14. +100

[Ninga]

22. Or this?

1.
relating to agnostics or agnosticism.
synonyms: skeptical, doubting, questioning, unsure, cynical, unbelieving, disbelieving, nonbelieving, faithless, irreligious; More

[Atticus]

27. This is what I heard. Thank you. nt

[SharonClark]

33. Agree 100%

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. Putting all your hope in one person -- whether an attorney or a TV personality -- is a great way to

set one's self up for disappointment.

[Claritie Pixie]

11. Poor word choice on her part. 'Objective' would have been better.

It's good for all of us to remain objective since we don't know what's around the corner.

[forgotmylogin]

12. Don't equate it wholesale with the religious definition.

Agnostic is choosing not to decide on something that is unknowable. It's not disbelief. It's not taking a side due to lack of information.

I infer Rachel means she is actively keeping her opinion neutral until she sees the report.

[Ninga]

24. Or this?

1.
relating to agnostics or agnosticism.
synonyms: skeptical, doubting, questioning, unsure, cynical, unbelieving, disbelieving, nonbelieving, faithless, irreligious; More

[whathehell]

13. Agnostic equals "I don't know" not "I don't believe""

You may be confusing it with atheism.

[Brainstormy]

26. Thank you.

but this one seems a losing battle.

[NurseJackie]

49. Too much religiosity attached to that word...

... which prevents it from being used properly in situations OTHER than matters of religion and faith and belief. Sad.

(Does eating bacon really cause my husband's hair to fall out? I'm agnostic on that.)

[whathehell]

53. You're welcome.

Some battles seem doomed to defeat.

[Greybnk48]

15. She's adopted a "wait and see" posture, nothing more. n/t

[lunasun]

17. I expect nothing but of course will be happy if anything does come about from it

What I never believed was naive friends who told me 3-4 months after he was potus that he would “be removed” soon ...it simply doesn’t work that way.

They are local folks, not political and just hate trump, but I was surprised at all the Mueller gossip here @ du and other sites early on ‘17-18 that was accepted, since folks here should know better especially considering the sources of the gossip like a twitter account .
Maddow Ithink got caughtup in a lot of that although I never watch her, it seemed so as many would use her as their source of the “next week or anytime now!” mantra as time progressed

I do believe some things could be found and dropped “ for the good and stability of the nation”

Mueller and many investigating are republicans so unlikely they have any agenda against the whole GOP party as many seem to think, and that is a good thing.


Agnostic is a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief
Just doesn’t know is not the same as an absolute

[Arkansas Granny]

18. She said at the end of that segment "I believe that I don't know" or words to that effect.

[hlthe2b]

19. Agnostic means one DOES NOT KNOW; not that one doesn't care about an outcome.

Truthfully, NONE OF US can know until Mueller informs us. In this case, the all-knowing person ("God&quot with all the answers is Robert Mueller.

ag·nos·tic
/aɡˈnästik/
noun
noun: agnostic; plural noun: agnostics

1.
a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.

[Ninga]

25. Or this?

1.
relating to agnostics or agnosticism.
synonyms: skeptical, doubting, questioning, unsure, cynical, unbelieving, disbelieving, nonbelieving, faithless, irreligious; More

[hlthe2b]

28. Same difference... It indicates she has doubt that she KNOWS the outcome or COULD predict

I don't know why you or others are stressing about this. We ALL know better than to paint Rachel Maddow as anything other than supportive of Mueller and his investigation.

Why are you assuming otherwise?

[Ninga]

30. of course she's supportive, you're supportive, I'm supportive, everyone is supportive doesn't mean

squat.

She's is privy to deep research and much much more than us mortals.

[hlthe2b]

34. NO one outside OSC is privy to what THEY have. This is nonsense.

[Ninga]

36. I Said no such thing. I love Rachel. I'm entitled to be anxious. Her choice of words caught

my attention.

[hlthe2b]

38. No. she is NOT privy to what the OCS has.

[Ninga]

42. Ok, I agree. Never said she was. Nt

[Ninga]

43. Real question is, will we ever be? Privy that is.

[hlthe2b]

45. See this thread.. Neal Kayal wrote the Special Counsel Statute

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211650739

[agingdem]

23. Rachel is a pragmatist

so many of us are counting on Mueller's report to see us, put the final nail in trump's coffin...but we don't know what's in that report...we don't know if we'll ever see the full report..all Trump's convicted satellites...Cohen, Manafort, Flynn plus the Russian lawyers, deal makers implicated in this disaster don't really get that orange menace out of the White House...and if the report is calamitous Trump isn't going down without a fight and that could take years...and we're already two years into this travesty...I'm with Rachel on this...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

31. That's not what she meant. She is simply not making predictions about the outcome.

"Agnostic" doesn't mean not believing, it means not knowing. She doesn't know what's going to happen, and unlike a lot of other people who are making predictions, she admits she doesn't know.

[FM123]

32. I saw that last night too.

I am not sure why she used that word - perhaps you are right that Rachel has no belief or hope, but maybe not. I tend to think not. Only because over all the years that I have watched her, it has not been her way to give up with a "all hope is lost" kind of mentality when something is still in the middle of being looked at or worked through. Please don't be disheartened.

[Ninga]

40. Thank you.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

35. I know this much....She's this generations Walter Cronkite.

Without her, we'd be SO screwed. SO SCREWED. I've been able to set aside life and go to work knowing I can check w her for a run-down and pretty good analysis of what happened today.
The problem is desensitization to chaos and the responsibility of future presidents to somehow rehab the office of the Prez. And, the national grief this man and his family have caused by just serving themselves. That's not a country for all. If nothing else he should be sidelined while these things are investigated and not allowed to sow more division and insecurity on the global stage.
He cheated a good person and over 300million of us in a rigged election. Justice isn't served letting him control our nation for 2 plus years after some pretty obvious criminality that would've jailed any one of us months and months ago.
When you find yourself at the bottom of a big hole, stop digging. The russians threw this election. It's an act of war. If Mueller just slow walks this for another two years so we can have a political solution, there's absolutely no telling where we will be. We have an obligation to the next generation to give a better country than we got. We have n example to set for children of what's right and wrong.
Justice is blind, and JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED. Least thats what WE all live by. Him too. There's SO much to prosecute, start w a small thing, and work your way up Mr Mueller. irreperable harm and a Nations equity come to mind.

[Mme. Defarge]

41. Edward R. Murrow

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

44. Yes. That too.

[dlk]

37. Rachel's Agnostic Comment Referred to the TIMING of the Release of Mueller's Report

Her comment had nothing to do with her belief in the validity or success of Mueller’s investigation.

[Mme. Defarge]

39. Not foolishness to the Greeks.

gnos·tic
[ˈnästik]
ADJECTIVE
relating to knowledge, especially esoteric mystical knowledge.
relating to Gnosticism.
NOUN
gnostics (plural noun)
an adherent of Gnosticism.
ORIGIN
late 16th century (as a noun): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek gnōstikos, from gnōstos ‘known’ (related to gignōskein ‘know’).

Now put an “a” as the word’s first letter, as in amoral, etc.

[Mike Nelson]

46. I think we...

… may be expecting too much of Mueller. He's been turned into a "savior" - but we do not know what he's done... He is a Republican... he may have "farmed out" some of the criminal activity because he thinks it's not part of his job; that doesn't mean he would agree with any further investigations, or would have done them the same way... or, then again, he may have a tight case against the crimes Trump committed. Trump continues to engage in criminal activity, so how can Mueller "wrap up" anything? The first report can be over, but the investigation into The Donald would have to go on... and, how can he let The Donald continue to serve? What if we have a major crisis? Russia or North Korea decide to take over another country... we have no Commander in Chief to respond appropriately... I don't know... I'm an agnostic, too. I'll believe it when I see it.

[Ninga]

48. There you go. thanks.

[LongtimeAZDem]

51. No, agnostic means "without knowledge"; in modern parlance, "insufficient data" /nt

[Irishxs]

52. I am also agnostic. Religion, or lack thereof, does not have any relation to someone's character.

People are who they are. God has nothing to do with it.