This is an issue that has bothered me for a while. The terms ‘strictly’ or ‘ultra’, when prefacing the word orthodox, is misleading at best and offensive at worst. For several reasons. Firstly, because the term ultra denotes a negative extreme. The only other uses of the word when referring to people is for the most violent of football hooligans. So when describing what is simply a religious group, from a secular standpoint is offensive. This is because it is not simply a descriptive term, but it indicates a behaviour that is extreme, not just when compared to the so-called Jewish norm, but when compared to what an irreligious person would call ‘normal human behaviour’. Calling an entire group ultras indicates that they behave in an abnormally extreme manner. And even if you don’t accept this point, even saying that we are extreme when compared with ‘other jews’ is implying that there is normal Judaism and extreme Judaism, as opposed to there simply being different viewpoints. The fact that this term is still used widely in the secular media is ridiculous and offensive.
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