"Who uses it to discredit whom?"

Well I can think of a number of characters on this site alone who never miss an opportunity to tell people what they like is all very nice but it's not proper folk music. Their single source for that opinion is the 1954 definition.

If the definition holds up in a modern context they may have a point, if it doesn't we may have to re-think what we mean by folk music. I think it's flawed in the very places people hold it up as useful and I've pointed out why.