I would point out that the common wisdom used to be that the velocity V in F
= Q(E + VxB) was an absolute velocity - measured from the preferred frame at
absolute rest (the ether frame?). This view welcomed the velocity dependent
force as providing a means of measuring one's own absolute velocity. This
is the view which Einstein rejected a priori when he insisted on the
equivalence of all non-accelerating frames. It is also the view which led
to experimental searches (Michaelson Morely, Trouton Noble, etc) for
consequent motion dependent electromagnetic/optical effects.