This is a meta diary, so it's not particularly important and (I hope it) won't be particularly controversial. It will also be brief.
It concerns the use of a word that I see a lot on DailyKos (and elsewhere online, but that's less important). Most of the time, when I see this word used here, I suspect the author of the diary or post in question doesn't actually intend what they seem to mean.
The word is "reactionary" and it does not mean merely "to overreact" or "to be highly reactive" as in a bomb or a chemical reaction.
Since "reactionary" is an old favorite of leftists of all stripes, I want to do the word a bit of justice here and try to foster its correct usage, because it's a useful word and I'd hate to see it diluted.
Here are some definitions from around the web for "reactionary" that speak for themselves.
Google: Opposing political or social liberalization or reform; a person who holds such views.
Wikipedia: A reactionary is an individual that holds reactionary political viewpoints which cause them to seek to return to a previous state (the status quo ante) in a society.
Dictionary.com: Relating to, marked by, or favoring reaction; especially : ultraconservative in politics.
The Thesaurus.com entry is particularly telling:
Reactionary
Definition: conservative
Synonyms: counterrevolutionary, die-hard, obscurantist, old-line, orthodox, regressive, retrogressive, right, rightist, rigid, standpat, tory, traditional, traditionalistic
Antonyms: liberal, progressive, radical
Yes, it's true that the Dictionary.com definition begins with "favoring reaction" as a property, but
notice where it ends.
When we say that someone (president Obama, Harry Reid, a psychologist, a medical doctor) has done something "reactionary," the clear meaning to most educated ears is that they have done something very traditional and conservative.
Most of the time, I don't think this is what DailyKos members intend to say when they use this word—though I could just be reading many of your posts and replies incorrectly.
To use "reactionary" to describe someone or something in a nonpolitical context actually implies that they have done something for conservative political reasons. So, to say that a doctor's treatment was reactionary implies not that he acted rashly and without thinking, but that he used an out-of-date treatment, for example, because he is politically conservative and opposed on moral or ethical (i.e. essentially political) grounds to newer treatment practices in general, not just in one specific case.
This is a great word to slap on someone like Pat Robertson or Darrell Issa. To use it for someone on the left is an accusation that they are actually a conservative—fine if they deserve it, probably not what many intend.