People either need to be allowed to voice both pro and anti Zionist rhetoric, or neither at all. The constant attempt to inextricably link Zionism with Judaism is a non practical link that undermines the very reason we use words: to convey a concept or an idea. When people employ a prescriptivist linguistic definition of Zionism to mean Judaism, they are attempting to intentionally misconstrue the definition of the word being utilized. There is a reason why descriptive linguistics is considered the standard and not prescriptive linguistics, because the words ultimately mean that which the propagator of the words intend they mean, and not the distorted definition their opposition rhetorically tries to convince us they mean.
People either need to be allowed to voice both pro and anti Zionist rhetoric, or neither at all. The constant attempt to inextricably link Zionism with Judaism is a non practical link that undermines the very reason we use words: to convey a concept or an idea. When people employ a prescriptivist linguistic definition of Zionism to mean Judaism, they are attempting to intentionally misconstrue the definition of the word being utilized. There is a reason why descriptive linguistics is considered the standard and not prescriptive linguistics, because the words ultimately mean that which the propagator of the words intend they mean, and not the distorted definition their opposition rhetorically tries to convince us they mean.