Dem Convention Delegates: "Militants"?

[JHB]

Avedon Carol's blog "The Sideshow" homes in on The International Herald Tribune's characterization of Democratic Convention-goers as "militants":

http://www.sideshow.idps.co.uk/saug04.htm#011150

Explain this to me: The Republicans have literally said they are at war with us, that this is a "culture war"; they use extreme language in which they overtly talk about "crushing" Democrats, even use rape metaphors mixed into their eliminationist rhetoric, and in all this time - and we are talking a good decade or more, now - I've never seen the RNC described as "militant".

Look, we're talking about ordinary Democratic activists here, not the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers - who, by the way, are the sort of people the word "militant" was once reserved for, before we started to see "militant feminists" applied to the likes of Susan Brownmiller. It made sense when referring to people who where literally walking around showily-armed, like the Panthers, or actually building bombs, like the Weathermen, but it was already getting pretty over-the-top when applied to feminists who merely used words. But since when is it "militant" to be going to conventions, nominating party candidates, and trying to win elections? Isn't that what both parties routinely do?

"Militant" seems to be a term that is reserved for the leftward side of the spectrum, even though most of the people with guns and bombs - especially those who actually use them - are on the right. The people declaring war are on the right. The people who are shamelessly and publicly trying to overturn the Constitution are on the right. The people who actually have armies in training camps, overtly aimed at attacks on what they regard as a liberal disease, are on the right. The people who shoot doctors and other clinic workers are on the right. Whoever sent anthrax to Congress in an attempt to assassinate members of the Democratic leadership obviously comes from the right.

So shouldn't we be asking the IHT why it is acceptable to refer to ordinary Democratic activists as "militants", rather than referring to the RNC this way?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. This is part of their strategy...

To use national discourse to push the center to the right. It has another name: sophistry.

[tom_paine]

2. It has another name: Orwellian Newspeak