Moonies
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The term Moonies is a derogatory term for members of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Movement. Members prefer the terms Unificationist or Unification Church member. The term was coined by the New York newspapers The Daily News and The New York Post, in 1974 during the church's 'Madison Square Garden' campaign. The prevailing media-created term 'Moon-children' didn't easily fit a tabloid-size headline.
Some years of silently enduring the media's use of the term (the proper response in the Korean traditional way of thinking for innocents who are publicly maligned), the Unificationists changed their public stance in the mid 1980s, when they asked major media organizations to stop referring to them as "Moonies", on the grounds that the term was intended as a demeaning and pejorative slur, and reflects bigotry and prejudice.
A dysphemism treadmill effect has occured, and the term is now used, especially by the youth of the church, to refer to themselves.
See also
External links
- [An essay on the use of the term "Moonie"] by a Unificationist
- [Testimony of Alex Colvin to the Maryland Task Force to Study the Effects of Cult Activities on Public Senior Higher Education Institutions] which contains a discussion of the use of "Moonie"
- [Anti-Unification site retaining use of the word "Moonie"]
- [Unification Church official website]
- [A balanced introduction to Unificationism] including both support and criticism from current and former Unificationists.
- [Unification Church recruiting stories, why some believe this to be a cult]
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