To the contrary

Question

Question:I was reading a book, "Liberal Fascism" by Jonah Goldberg, and the first sentence on the second page read: "Bill Maher to the contrary, fascism is not 'when corporations become the government.'" This sentence stuck out to me as wrong. I've seen "to the contrary" used before, but only by itself, like so: "To the contrary, cats are not dogs" or "John, to the contrary, believes that cats are dogs." My instinct is that, in these cases and every other use that I can think of, "to the contrary" is an adjunct. But if you were to remove "to the contrary" from the original sentence, it would leave you with: "Bill Maher, fascism is not ..." Obviously, his intention isn't to address Bill Maher directly. The original sentence seems as correct as: "The tree quickly, frogs are amphibians." Am I missing something here?

CSnyder · Accepted Answer

You should read the clause before the comma as saying "Though Bill Maher would argue to the contrary..."

You should also stop reading works written by Jonah Goldberg.

MalRey · Answer

It does seem odd. I've read this kind of construction before but only in this form: "to the contrary notwithstanding"

So the sentence would be: "Bill Maher to the contrary notwithstanding, fascism is not 'when corporations become the government.'"

This has the meaning that no matter how strenuously or foolishly Maher objects he is wrong and in fact fascism is not 'when corporations become the government.'"

Which statement, by the way, is true, Jonah Goldberg really knows his stuff. And also by the way, Maher truly is a fool.

Anonymous · Answer

actually, there is many definitions to fascism, but so many definitions that the original meaning is unknown.

To the contrary

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions