I would like to see the word "rebel" excised from coverage of the mid-east...

[annabanana]

It is a useless and confusing construct, given the complicated cross currents in each and every country where there's conflict.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Silly Anna--

You expect the media to give up the language of oversimplification and emotional arousal? They would be reduced to filling the airwaves with information.

[annabanana]

3. It's just my pesky curiosity.

Or maybe I'm just nosy.

[panader0]

2. Could we toss "insurgent" too?

[annabanana]

4. .. and all other synonyms for the same meaningless word.. . . .n/t

[1939]

5. Rebel is a descriptive term

It describes individuals or groups in armed rebellion against an established government whether or not we approve of the government.

We persist in banning descriptive words.

Originally moron, imbecile, and idiot were scientific words describing interval blocks on the IQ scale.

Then those words were outlawed and replaced by the euphemism retarded which has now been outlawed and replaced by developmentally challenged.

My wife is no longer short (4'11&quot but is vertically challenged.

The English language is the richest and most descriptive language in the world. Lets use it.

[libdem4life]

7. No, it's a political word, like Freedom Fighter...but whose freedom we are talking about is always

in question and subject to change. Like sanctions...that's what we do willy nilly with the sovereign states. I think she was talking about the message that it carries these days and the subtle invitation to America to bring in their kids, their war munitions, their "advisors", etc.

Please do not dismiss it with short...I've never heard of vertically challenged. It's a red herring. The comparison is ridiculous.

[1939]

8. Freedom fighter isn't descriptive

It depends on your political analysis of their effort.

A rebel is a rebel no matter what you think of him. Americans rebelled against England and we liked them. The Confederate rebelled against the US and we don't like them. We liked the Cuban rebels in 1898 and we liked the Cuban rebels in the 50s (until Fidel came to power). We disliked the Katanga rebels who overthrew Lumumba in the Congo.

Rebels are rebels whether we side with them or not.

Calling a group "freedom fighters" indicates that we have chosen their side.

[libdem4life]

9. I was a rebel, my son was a rebel, good lord, from our parents, but the word still is used.

You know, rebellious...against some authority (state or family or church or municipal LEO) Our position crafts our choice of words...and how you can parse rebel with freedom fighters or opposition forces or thugs or SOBs loses the point of the article, IMO. Today's rebels become tomorrow's freedom fighters, you know, the enemy of my friend, and we've been through many.

Suffice it to say, context and intention matter a whole lot. Nuance, one might say.

Peace out.

[annabanana]

10. My point is that even the term

"established government" in the Mideast is not especially illuminative right now in a few cases.

[libdem4life]

6. Absolutely. It's like "terrorist"..which ones are the bad guys? It's complicated, as they say.

The enemy of my friend is my enemy. But it does justify or create the getting our hooks into all sides.

[BainsBane]

11. It's better than terrorist

talk about a loaded word used selectively.

[Nye Bevan]

12. A concise descriptive word meaning someone who opposes the established government.

I don't see any reason to stop using it, except in an unstable region where more than one group claims to be the government, in which case it is obviously ambiguous.