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 -------------------------------- | Subscribe to our free weekly list serve by visiting: | http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html | | Donate now to support independent, public interest reporting: | https://secure.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/cmd/shop/ custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=1107 --------------------------------