"Dissident" still being pushed...remember: THEY CONTROL DEBATE/OPPOSITION [View All]

[EMunster]

...THROUGH LANGUAGE. They beat us every time through the message, and this is how.

We still need to nip "dissident" in the bud.

Several great threads covered this over the last couple of days (links at bottom). Letters were written. Editors seemed to comply...but today it's back again.
December 14, 2004

Court asked to review Ohio vote

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio delegation to the Electoral College cast its votes for President Bush on Monday, hours after dissident groups asked the state Supreme Court to review the outcome of the state's presidential race.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2004/12/14/build/nation/60-ohio-vote.inc

to reemphasize...

As has been noted,dissident's sudden appearance the other night(can anyone find the first use?) wasn't an accident. It strikes the ear a little funny for a reason -- it characterizes us in a way that's just not right...marginalizing us, coloring and blurring our motivations, purpose, etc.

Some might not mind the term; may even thrill at it...being placed in the tradition of Andrei Sakharov, Noam Chomsky, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Nelson Mandela, as the linked article below mentions. But we really have to be aware of the heavy minority, minority, weak, lone voice connotation this word implies. Romantic and rebellious, sure, but it comes with a huge downside. Be aware of the "frame" this creates if we let this pass. More middle-of-the-road readers are going to be willing to sympathize/identify with the concerns of a "challenger" than a dissident.

From Wikipedia.

A dissident is a person that actively opposes the established order. The term is most often used to refer to political dissidents, usually against oppressive regimes. Political dissidents usually refer to non-violent means, which can range from voicing criticism of the government to attempts to displace or overthrow the established government by achieving popular support and sparking a revolution. In totalitarian regimes these dissidents are often punished with lengthy prison sentences or execution. Similarly, social dissidents openly oppose accepted social attitudes. In democratic societies political and social dissidents are supposed to be free from government pressure, but there have been noted instances of persecution, such as the witch hunts in the United States for communists in the 1950s.

Who was the first reporter to use this term? I think he should be challenged as to why. To be a dissident has more of a "lifestyle" connotation of just dissenting...an antiestablishment way of life, and NOT regular citizens roused to anger and protest because of a particular offense. As mentioned before, it's asssociated with foreigners, etc...ever-dissenting French. In other words, Rush would/does(?) use the term, and you know exactly why. Would the writer ever have used "dissent" to describe one of the anti-clinton conservative a groups? We've all been on the lookout for what Roves first move would be in relation to the fraud allegations -- this is it.
link:
http://www.yourencyclopedia.net/data1/en/wikipedia/d/di/dissident.html

previous threads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x150243
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=145341&mesg_id=145341