In the Latin word “detractor” is where the etymological origin of the term detractor is found, which is composed of the following parts:
- The prefix “from-“, which is used to indicate “direction from top to bottom” or “away”.
- The word “tractus”, which can be translated as “dragged”.
- The suffix “-tor”, which is equivalent to “agent”.
Detractor is a term used to name someone who usually confronts someone or something through their opinions. This means that the detractor offends, discredits, disqualifies or denigrates what he opposes.
For example: “The mayor was angry with the detractors of the road project”, “In the middle of the speech, a detractor stood up and began to insult the businessman”, “I am not your detractor, I simply said that you should think more before acting”.
To understand what the notion of detractor refers to, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the verb to detract. This action is equivalent to sullying or offending the honor or reputation of another person through an opinion expressed orally or in writing.
Suppose a television journalist presents a story about the latest announcements of a ruler. After issuing the report, the journalist affirms that this ruler is a liar since he usually announces projects that never materialize. Next, the press man lists five cases in which, according to his position, the ruler lied. It could be said, therefore, that the journalist is a critic of the politician in question.
Some undemocratic governments, to avoid cases like the one mentioned, try to limit freedom of the press or freedom of expression. In this way they seek to ensure that their detractors cannot spread their opinions, which are negative for the regime.
There are public figures who, when they consider a journalist to be their critic, refuse to grant interviews. That can be the case of a football manager who, angry with a reporter who questions his tactical decisions, decides not to talk to his program anymore.
In the same way, we cannot ignore the fact that, throughout history, there have been critics of all kinds of characters, facts or government systems. A clear example of this are the groups that demonstrated and acted totally against dictatorships such as Francoism or Nazism.
In the case of Spain, the term detractor has gained maximum currency since the appearance in the political field of the group called Podemos, which is led by Pablo Iglesias. And it is that said training, which has managed to permeate a large part of the population and that, according to surveys, is even displacing the majority groups so far, has begun to have a certain number of detractors.
Fundamentally, these detractors are people belonging to the majority groups, PP and PSOE, who are seeing how their formations are declining. For this reason, they do not hesitate to accuse and “attack” the members of Podemos from all possible flanks.
Also, today it is common to find detractors to all kinds of people or things. In this way, there are those who are against social networks, television programs called reality shows…
