To make myself clear: Every time someone uses that term a Muslim group complains that we don’t understand Islam. This redirects the conversation from the real issue to one relating to our choice of words. I find it difficult to worry about the sensibilities of a Muslim whose fellow Muslims in the Middle East want to kill me at the same time that the complainer, by silence, condones the actions of the killers.
Your assertion that the West not caring about the syntax used to describe scum was a principal factor in 9/11 is ludicrous. BinLaden was more than happy to take money from the West to kill Russians in Afghanistan. When the Russians pulled out he decided that the U.S. should not be in Saudi Arabia and decided, in the name of Allah, to kill Americans wherever he could. Unfortunately, the American President was too concerned about the distraction in his knee well to pay attention and deal appropriately with bin Laden’s repeated provocations.
Since Muslims owe their first allegiance to Islam, rather than a nation, perhaps the West should target an appropriately sensitive target in the Middle East.
Your comment expresses rather well what I meant about the West not caring about the problem of Islamic Fascism (as well as the jargon) before 9/11. You made my point for me - and still called it ludicrous? That’s just silly. There were excellent books written by Westerners on the topic of Islamic Fundamentalism before 9/11 but that literature was not representative of Western attitudes back then. These days, the West is demonstratively more aware of the “threat” [by whatever name you want to call it] than before 9/11. The important thing here is that calling the threat “Islam” in its entirety is wrong. Organized religion is no more a threat to your life and liberty than any other organized ideology. There are more than 1 billion Muslims in the World and if they were all trying to kill you, you’d probably be dead already. Yes, there are some “Fascist” Muslims who are trying to organize all other Muslims to kill you, but it hasn’t worked yet. Give the fascists time and it may work. Call all Muslims the enemy and fight them as such and the fascists may indeed convince other Muslims to fight you. How many do you think the fascists need to convince to kick start a major war? I think they’re getting close. How many do you think the fascists have already convinced that live right down the street from you? You don’t know do you… You’d have to ask them wouldn’t you? Try it… say to him or her --- “Pardon me neighbor, are you Muslim and are you plotting to kill me?”
History is clear on this point – we can’t do anything to influence a fascist that wants to kill us. Fortunately there aren’t many of them. That’s not to suggest stopping them is going to be easy. What we can do is make sure fascists are denied the ability to flourish. Using appropriate tactics is critical to successfully stopping these bastards. The first step toward denying the fascists comfort is specifically identifying who they are. There are a few Westerners who’ve been able to identify them but again, like before 9/11, the West is in a dangerous cognitive position. We’re in danger because most Westerns cannot conceptualize nor articulate the core threat to their life and liberty. History is clear on this point as well; if the situation remains this way, expect the West to be conquered and ruled by a tyrant.