[Nasrudith]

"Reactionary"'s origins as far are pure political DARVO and gaslighting anyway. It originated in the French revolution and basically declared "You are morally wrong for being horrified at my horrific and evil actions." That origin tainted the term for me personally.

The actual modern reactionary meaning of "referrant to a mythical past as a standard" always felt like it deserved a better term. But nobody would get what you were saying if you called them a "fairytaleland resident" or similar.

[pocksuppet]

I always read "reactionary" as "oh no, someone did something! now I have to react by getting angry!" and it seems to fit well enough.