The dainty ideology that survives by covering its eyes

“Islamic terrorism” is too emotive a phrase, say the post-humans of the EU hierarchy, as reported in the Telegraph. They have accordingly come up with a “non-emotive lexicon for discussing radicalisation,” to be submitted to Europe’s national (excuse me, post-national) leaders in June. Instead of calling Islamic terrorists “Islamic terrorists,” the EU will recommend that European officialdom refer to Islamic terrorists as “terrorists who abusively invoke Islam.” (But then whom or what are the terrorists abusing when they call themselves Islamic? They’re abusing Islam!) An EU official said: “The basic idea behind it is to avoid the use of improper words that would cause frustration among Muslims and increase the risk of radicalisation.”

Got that? Here’s the logic: (1) Every time they blow people up, Muslim terrorists proudly announce to the world that they are acting in the name of Islam. (2) Westerners, picking up on the terrorists’ own self-description, duly speak of “Islamic terrorism.” (3) This reference to “Islamic terrorism” makes other, non-terrorist Muslims feel “frustrated,” and so they become “radicalised,” perhaps even turning to terrorism themselves. Therefore (4) the only way to avoid an increase of Islamic radicalism and terrorism is to pretend that Islamic terrorism doesn’t exist.

Personally, however, I don’t think the Brits will ever get their heads straightened out on the problem of Muslim “radicalisation” until they stop spelling it with an “s”.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 19, 2006 10:39 AM | Send