[WikiEN-l] Brandt, bios, and other thoughts

[Sheldon Rampton]

George Herbert wrote:

> I thought long and hard about whether the label was appropriate or
> hyperbole in this situation, and then decided to use it.

I thought long and hard over whether it was appropriate or hyperbole  
to call George Herbert "worse than Hitler," and then decided to use  
it. ;-)

Seriously: calling Brandt a "terrorist" is clearly inappropriate and  
offensive hyperbole. Here are some minimal definitional standards  
that should apply before seriously labeling someone a terrorist: Have  
they done anything illegal? Have they done anything violent?

Brandt's actions may be annoying, irritating and offensive to many  
people, but "terrorism"? Puh-lease. If you seriously thought he was a  
terrorist, you'd call the FBI, not whine about him here.

This sort of thing is a perfect example of the myopic groupthink that  
has made it so difficult for Wikipedia to resolve its problems with  
Daniel Brandt. Calling him a "terrorist" is clearly not only untrue  
but as loaded a term of insult as can possibly be imagined. The  
dumbest newspaper editor on earth knows that words like "terrorist"  
or "sociopath" belong on his shortlist of potentially libelous terms  
to avoid unless absolutely warranted, but members of this community  
spew venom like this with blithe abandon and then pompously assert  
that they are justified in doing so because they "thought long and  
hard" over it. And then they wonder why people get mad at them.

--------------------------------
|  Sheldon Rampton
|  Research director, Center for Media & Democracy (www.prwatch.org)
|  Author of books including:
|     Friends In Deed: The Story of US-Nicaragua Sister Cities
|     Toxic Sludge Is Good For You
|     Mad Cow USA
|     Trust Us, We're Experts
|     Weapons of Mass Deception
|     Banana Republicans
|     The Best War Ever
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