Eco-Terrorism (Earth Liberation Front)

[Steve K.]

On Tue, 16 Jan 2001, Mike Salovesh wrote:

> It's a pity that the word
> "ecoterrorism" has settled into dictionaries without background
> information about the purposes behind its original use. Lack of that
> background points to the ultimate success of an orchestrated attempt to
> neutralize activists on one side of a public debate. It's worrisome that
> dictionaries can become the vehicles of political propaganda even when
> their editors have no intent of producing that outcome.

Isn't this like asking that dictionaries only define words as they were
used in Shakespeare's time? If the media "distort" the original vision of
a term, and that is the way the term comes to be  used in citation after
citation, don't lexicographers have a duty to impart how the term sees use?

> Propagandists for and against many kinds of activist movements have been
> honing their skills for a long time.

In this regard, wouldn't then the 'pro'-faction's definition of the term
be as skewed as the 'anti'-faction's?

This does highlight the difficulty in defining politcally charged words,
though.

--- Steve K.