Controversial

A controversy is a contentious dispute -- a disagreement, about which parties are actively arguing, from the"opposed sides" that are denoted in the word's Latin source. Controversies can range from a private disputes between twoindividuals to the largest social upheavals . Many of the Early Christian writers, such as Irenaeus or Jerome were famed as "controversialists" and wrote worksagainst perceived heresy or heretical individuals, works whose titles beginAdversus... such as Irenaeus' Adversus haeresis. The Christian writers inherited from the classical rhetors the conventional conviction that controversial confrontations, even over trivialmatters, were a demonstration of intellectual superiority. Compare the orations of Demosthenes , or Cicero 's InCatalinam ("Against Cataline").

In jurisprudence , a controversy differs from a case , which includes all suits criminal as well as civil; whereascontroversy is a civil and not a criminal proceeding. By the Constitution of the United States, the judicial power shall extendto controversies to which the United States shall be a party. (Article 2, 1.) The meaning to be attached to the word controversyin the constitution, is that above given.

Part of the nature of controversy is that the matter in contention cannot be conclusively settled one way or another, and isoften accompanied by the disruption of peace and even quarreling. ConstantineI convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE inhopes of settling the Arian controversy . Once the Council had reached theirdecision, further discussion was anathema . That was the Christian way.

Three great controversies in the history of Christianity have been the Ariancontroversy , the "filioque" controversy and the Investiture controversy . Knowing both sides of theirhistories in detail helps clarify the connotations of "controversy."

In modern usage, the function of "controversial" may be recognized sometimes as a self-fulfilling adjective, which,whenever the reader sees it, should be critically scrutinized. Propagandists may employ controversial as a "tar-brush," pejoratively to identify asubject and thus create a perceived atmosphere of controversy, where perhaps none authentically exists. Thus:

"Beatrix Potter's creation, Peter Rabbit..."

"Beatrix Potter's controversial creation, Peter Rabbit..."

A reader might compare the entry controversial book to judgewhether or not an unjustified inclusion in such a listing automatically creates an atmosphere of "controversy."

This present entry was listed at Wikipedia:Votes for Deletion as exhibiting an insufficiently neutral point-of-view, beforeanalysis of the way the word controversial functions had actually begun. Thus controversy may be judged"controversial." Nevertheless issues, books, poems, games and religious cults are and have been listed as being controversial atsuch entries as Wikipedia:List of controversial issues , controversial books of poetry , list of controversialnew religious movements .

On the other hand, propagandists may also try to draw attention to their product or ideas by labeling them as controversial,even if the idea has become widely accepted to a given segment of the population. For example, Western film-makers maydeliberately market suggestive films to their audiences as being controversial, even though most of their market would not objectto such content, or would even be surprised to hear that others find it objectionable. Political or social issue writers may alsotry to get their content labeled "controversial" to draw added publicity to their works.

See also Succès de scandale : public controversy (whetherartificially engendered or resulting from real dispute) has been shown to determine success.