I suspect pointing out someone’s confusion about the scope of the terms ‘natural’ and ‘chemicals’ is a proxy (not necessarily a bad one) for pointing out that their whole thinking on the topic is confused. It’s a sign they assume incorrectly that natural (whatever they mean by it) is good and chemical (likewise) is bad, which is usually what they are implying.
E.g. I heard someone on the radio talking about this re the term ‘processed’ food; he said people who disapprove of processed food might say it’s much better to eat e.g. pasta with some parmesan and wine. Whereas in fact those are all highly processed foods too. So pointing this out is a more polite way of saying “your thinking is so muddled you haven’t even thought through what counts as ‘processed’ (or ‘natural’ or ‘chemical’), so you’re not justified in assuming that that entails something is good or bad, which indeed it doesn’t.” Which seems a valid point.
I suspect pointing out someone’s confusion about the scope of the terms ‘natural’ and ‘chemicals’ is a proxy (not necessarily a bad one) for pointing out that their whole thinking on the topic is confused. It’s a sign they assume incorrectly that natural (whatever they mean by it) is good and chemical (likewise) is bad, which is usually what they are implying.
E.g. I heard someone on the radio talking about this re the term ‘processed’ food; he said people who disapprove of processed food might say it’s much better to eat e.g. pasta with some parmesan and wine. Whereas in fact those are all highly processed foods too. So pointing this out is a more polite way of saying “your thinking is so muddled you haven’t even thought through what counts as ‘processed’ (or ‘natural’ or ‘chemical’), so you’re not justified in assuming that that entails something is good or bad, which indeed it doesn’t.” Which seems a valid point.