Terminology
Worth reading, from the Associated Press, about the terms they use to describe neo-fascists and hate groups.
https://blog.ap.org/behind-the-news/how-to-describe-extremists-who-rallied-in-charlottesville
As someone who spent a decade and a half in the news business, I deeply appreciate the AP's commitment to strict adherence to specificity. As I've written about a couple of times in the past, it's all too easy to be loose and vague in one's language, especially when talking about the people you vehemently disagree with or abhor on a fundamental level.
But you can't be lax or slack off; that's a logical fallacy that provides an opening for the hate groups to do the same, to say that you're painting them with false colors, and to say that terms like these don't really matter. They do. A commitment to meaning what you say and saying what you mean is vital.
https://blog.ap.org/behind-the-news/how-to-describe-extremists-who-rallied-in-charlottesville
As someone who spent a decade and a half in the news business, I deeply appreciate the AP's commitment to strict adherence to specificity. As I've written about a couple of times in the past, it's all too easy to be loose and vague in one's language, especially when talking about the people you vehemently disagree with or abhor on a fundamental level.
But you can't be lax or slack off; that's a logical fallacy that provides an opening for the hate groups to do the same, to say that you're painting them with false colors, and to say that terms like these don't really matter. They do. A commitment to meaning what you say and saying what you mean is vital.
Charles Stanhope likes this.
And no, I don't expect white supremacists or fascists to be precise in *their* language. It's part of their game and their propaganda playbook to be divisive and misleading. But their being deceptive does not grant you a license to be deceptive, too.