I just saw a headline that LeVar Burton fans “demand” that he become the permanent Jeopardy host.
When did we start using language like this?
You “demand” something when you have a right to it. You can demand a fair trial, or equal treatment before the law, or something else that you actually have a right to. Archie Bunker was able to “demand equal time” after he heard a segment about gun control on the news — because in those days there was something known as the “Fairness Doctrine,” which “required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was honest, equitable, and balanced.”
You can’t “demand” that Burton gets a spot on a TV show. To do so makes you sound like a petulant little baby who thinks he’s entitled to get his way all the time.
In this case, I doubt the fans are actually “demanding” anything. It’s probably the headline writer trying to get clicks.
But using that sort of language reinforces the idea that wants = rights. If I want something, I can “demand” it, because the world is supposed to conform itself to my wishes. If it doesn’t, I suppose it’s “denying my existence” … or something.