A detractor denigrates or condemns something or someone through their opinions.
Detractor is a term used to name someone who usually confronts someone or something through their opinions . This means that the detractor insults, discredits, disqualifies or denigrates what he opposes.
For example: “The mayor seemed 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'm not your detractor, I simply said that you should think more.” before acting."
The etymological origin of the term is found in the Latin word detractor , which is composed of the following parts: the prefix de- , which is used to indicate “direction from top to bottom” or “distance” ; the word tractus , which can be translated as “dragged” ; and the suffix -tor , which is equivalent to “agent” .
Detractor concept
To understand what the notion of detractor refers to, we must understand the meaning of the verb detract . This action is equivalent to tarnishing 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 stated, therefore, that the journalist is a detractor 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 that a journalist is their detractor, refuse to grant interviews. That may 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.
The detractor issues negative reviews.
The notion throughout history
In the same way, we cannot ignore that, throughout history, there have been detractors of all types of characters, events 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 gained notoriety after the appearance in the political field of the group called Podemos , which is led by Pablo Iglesias . And this formation, which managed to penetrate a large part of the population and ousted majority groups, soon began to have a certain number of detractors.
Fundamentally, these detractors are people belonging to the majority groups, PP and PSOE , who saw how their formations were declining. For this reason, they did not hesitate and do not hesitate to accuse and attack the members of Podemos from all possible sides.
Likewise, today it is common to find detractors for all types of people or things. In this way, there are those who are against social networks or reality television programs, for example.