tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post554607130024587193..comments2024-01-01T17:21:52.555+00:00Comments on Is the BBC biased?: You say "extremist", I say "radical". Let's eat a tomato instead.Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08741318067991857821noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-88467850698829227902013-03-09T21:53:06.717+00:002013-03-09T21:53:06.717+00:00I was wondering what they were so afraid of, so I ...I was wondering what they were so afraid of, so I looked up the definitions of both words. <br />Merriam Webster:<br /><b>ex·trem·ist /ikˈstrēmist/ </b><br />Noun<br /><i>A person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, esp. one who resorts to or advocates extreme action.</i><br /><br /><b>rad·i·cal /ˈradikəl/ </b><br /><br />Noun<br /><i>A person who advocates thorough or complete political or social reform.</i><br /><br />So both definitions seemed fairly accurate terms to describe Qatada. They seemed similar in that they both indicate a will to actively bring about “reform” according to “political” views. However the banned word seemed to fit the bill as the definition included the words ‘religious’ and ‘fanatical’. Surely there is enough evidence to justify using a term that embraces both these adjectives to describe Abu without misrepresenting anything?<br /><br />I wondered other dictionaries agreed with these definitions so I turned to the Oxford. The Oxford definition of the banned word does seem a little more, how can I put it... I’ll use their own term, derogatory.<br /><br />Oxford dictionaries.<br /><b>Extremist</b><br />chiefly derogatory<br /><i>a person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action:right-wing extremists </i><br /><br /><b>Radical:</b><br /><i>A person who advocates thorough or complete political or social reform; a member of a political party or part of a party pursuing such aims.</i><br /><br />Love the example they give of ‘extremist! <i>“Right-wing extremist” </i>Ha very ha! Was that the thing that put them off? Or was it the “derogatory”? Mustn’t annoy the Muslims with a value judgement. Even if it’s patently more accurate to use the term extremist, which seems to define Qatada to a T. <br /> <br />suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02693686958796849316noreply@blogger.com