journalistic slur

24 Nov 2010

Maybe I’m overanalyzing it, but it annoys me that the news keeps referring to the people campaigning for a TSA protest as “internet activists”. I realize this is technically accurate, but “activists” is one of those buzzwords that implies an aura of habitual malcontent, professional protesting, and, in some cases, zealotry and dishonesty.

It’s annoying to me because it carries with it the suggestion that we should be disregarding these “activists” because clearly they’re just a troublemaking minority that is out to inconvenience the rest of us.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, I think we can all agree the people objecting to the TSA aren’t hardened anti-authority counterculturists. They’re just pissed off travelers that don’t want their junk manhandled.

Why not just refer to them as what they actually are? Angry citizens.