Are we allowed to say "Islamic terrorists"?

[Anonymous]

How about we take these terrorists on their word? They say they are doing it for Allah. I say we believe them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about we take these terrorists on their word? They say they are doing it for Allah. I say we believe them.

Sure, but by letting them co-opt one of the largest religions in the world, you give them a sense of legitimacy and civil rights they do not deserve. They are not following a religion. They are murdering innocents and spreading chaos. I prefer not to let them confuse the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about we take these terrorists on their word? They say they are doing it for Allah. I say we believe them.

Let's not take them at their word, give them any legitimacy. Let's call them Islamic extremist terrorists, or just terrorists.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:How about we take these terrorists on their word? They say they are doing it for Allah. I say we believe them.

I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is your applying what they say about themselves to all other Muslims.

ISIS has been very clear in its propaganda that one of its goals is to erase the "gray area" that exists between Muslims and the West. Communists use to call this "heightening the contradictions". They want to cause Muslims to choose between groups like ISIS and the West and the more that the West demonstrates that it is anti-Islamic, the more likely Muslims will be to choose ISIS. So, all of you who believe that blaming the entire religion is an acceptable or useful strategy are actually playing into the hands of ISIS. I doubt that is what you want to do. The best strategy is to focus your anger and hatred like a laser on that small number of Muslims behind this atrocity while making it clear to all other Muslims that you do not blame them. That would demonstrate clearly to ISIS that it's strategy has failed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again. You know, a while back we used to say "Irish terrorists", yet no one took issue with it (or warned against "blaming" all of Ireland).

This would be valid if people blamed all of Ireland the same way they blame all Muslims for terrorism. The hatred being spewed towards and entire religion for the actions of what actually amounts to a very few, is staggering.

People potentially assuming all Muslims are bad is what you find staggering??? Have you seen the news? Your priorities are way off.

Do you know how many people are Muslim in the world vs. How many of them are extremists? If you think my priorities are skewed regarding brushing over a whole religion because of the actions of a few, you should learn how to do a math first.

How many Westerners are killing these innocent Muslims? It shouldn't even be a concern since nobody is terrorizing THEM. Again, priorities (not numbers).

I think we should eradicate all under 30 something, white, Christian males who own guns because they're the ones conducting mass shootings. I mean, how do you KNOW which ones are going to grow up to shoot up a playground or cinema?

I know, I know, that's a couple million young men, but it's about priorities and keeping us all safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again. You know, a while back we used to say "Irish terrorists", yet no one took issue with it (or warned against "blaming" all of Ireland).

This would be valid if people blamed all of Ireland the same way they blame all Muslims for terrorism. The hatred being spewed towards and entire religion for the actions of what actually amounts to a very few, is staggering.

People potentially assuming all Muslims are bad is what you find staggering??? Have you seen the news? Your priorities are way off.

Do you know how many people are Muslim in the world vs. How many of them are extremists? If you think my priorities are skewed regarding brushing over a whole religion because of the actions of a few, you should learn how to do a math first.

How many Westerners are killing these innocent Muslims? It shouldn't even be a concern since nobody is terrorizing THEM. Again, priorities (not numbers).

It doesn't sound like you read the posts. No one is advocating doing anything, violent or not, to any Muslim. Someone stereotyping someone in their own head, but not acting on it, pales in comparison to what Westerners have to worry about.
I think we should eradicate all under 30 something, white, Christian males who own guns because they're the ones conducting mass shootings. I mean, how do you KNOW which ones are going to grow up to shoot up a playground or cinema?

I know, I know, that's a couple million young men, but it's about priorities and keeping us all safe.

[Anonymous]

What we call them is not important, really.

What we know is that there are millions of peace-loving Muslims around the world.
We also know there are too many violent extremists who believe it is their calling to eradicate those who do not believe what they do.
These extremists have said they are doing this in the name of Islam.
Yet, many Muslims condemn them for what they do.
We need to come to terms with the ideology of these extremists. We need to understand WHY they are doing this. Clearly, THEIR ideology is not the same ideology of many Muslims who do not believe as they do - they have been killing these Muslims as well.

So, instead of focusing on what to call them, let’s start focusing on how to get rid of them.

As a Christian, I do not want to be associated with the ideology of the Westboro Baptist Church.
Millions of Muslims also do not want to be associated with the radicals who commit these atrocities.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:I don't know if you are being serious or just trolling, but while I don't like the term "Islamic Terrorist", it is not something I prohibit from being posted. The issue that I take a pretty hard line on is blaming the entire religion for the actions of individuals or a small minority. Muslims make up the largest number of victims of ISIS and al-Qaida. At the same time, Muslims are in the forefront of fighting ISIS and al-Qaida. It is very unfair, disrespectful, and simply wrong to suggest that ISIS and al-Qaida represent Islam and not those Muslims who are the victims of and primary opponents to those groups.

If you want to have serious conversations, I suggest skipping the term "Islamic terrorists" and being more specific with the use of "ISIS" (or "IS") and "al-Qaida", etc. The groups are actually in conflict with each other and it is useful to distinguish between them, let alone between them and Muslims who aren't terrorists.

Wishing there was a like button on here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What we call them is not important, really.

What we know is that there are millions of peace-loving Muslims around the world.
We also know there are too many violent extremists who believe it is their calling to eradicate those who do not believe what they do.
These extremists have said they are doing this in the name of Islam.
Yet, many Muslims condemn them for what they do.
We need to come to terms with the ideology of these extremists. We need to understand WHY they are doing this. Clearly, THEIR ideology is not the same ideology of many Muslims who do not believe as they do - they have been killing these Muslims as well.

So, instead of focusing on what to call them, let’s start focusing on how to get rid of them.

As a Christian, I do not want to be associated with the ideology of the Westboro Baptist Church.
Millions of Muslims also do not want to be associated with the radicals who commit these atrocities.

Food for thought. My mother was Cathloic. After the Cathloic priest scandals, she didn't want to be associated with the Catholic church. She became a Lutheran.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or is that islamophobic? Will this thread get whacked due to PC?

Did you call Timothy McVeigh a Christian terrorist? Do you think he represents Christianity?

We could anyone a "Christian terrorist," but that doesn't make it true. McVeigh wasn't a practicing Christian, and had no religious motives. He didn't believe in hell, so I'm not sure how much he even identified with Christianity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again. You know, a while back we used to say "Irish terrorists", yet no one took issue with it (or warned against "blaming" all of Ireland).

This would be valid if people blamed all of Ireland the same way they blame all Muslims for terrorism. The hatred being spewed towards and entire religion for the actions of what actually amounts to a very few, is staggering.

People potentially assuming all Muslims are bad is what you find staggering??? Have you seen the news? Your priorities are way off.

Do you know how many people are Muslim in the world vs. How many of them are extremists? If you think my priorities are skewed regarding brushing over a whole religion because of the actions of a few, you should learn how to do a math first.

How many Westerners are killing these innocent Muslims? It shouldn't even be a concern since nobody is terrorizing THEM. Again, priorities (not numbers).

It doesn't sound like you read the posts. No one is advocating doing anything, violent or not, to any Muslim. Someone stereotyping someone in their own head, but not acting on it, pales in comparison to what Westerners have to worry about.
I think we should eradicate all under 30 something, white, Christian males who own guns because they're the ones conducting mass shootings. I mean, how do you KNOW which ones are going to grow up to shoot up a playground or cinema?

I know, I know, that's a couple million young men, but it's about priorities and keeping us all safe.

It's called hyperbole, and is a way of getting a message across.

I am reading the posts, and the problem is not the posts. It's he general message that it's okay to hate on an entire religion because of a few. It is the ignorant and inflammatory way of thinking that ends up clouding day to day life, and escalates to fear, hatred, and beyond. It's what leads countries to war, or huge injustices to humanity (I won't reference another historical us vs them argument, which people so quickly seem to ignore). One need only look at half the memes on Facebook (why really should be a fairly lighthearted slice of life to begin with) to see the seed has long been planted on us vs them. I'm not worried about comments on DCUM, or an entire thread, I'm worried about the seed it plants that makes it okay to some people to spawn misinformation and hatred.

[Anonymous]

Right, because the West has NEVER done anything stupid in predominately muslim countries.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP again. You know, a while back we used to say "Irish terrorists", yet no one took issue with it (or warned against "blaming" all of Ireland).

This would be valid if people blamed all of Ireland the same way they blame all Muslims for terrorism. The hatred being spewed towards and entire religion for the actions of what actually amounts to a very few, is staggering.

People potentially assuming all Muslims are bad is what you find staggering??? Have you seen the news? Your priorities are way off.

Do you know how many people are Muslim in the world vs. How many of them are extremists? If you think my priorities are skewed regarding brushing over a whole religion because of the actions of a few, you should learn how to do a math first.

How many Westerners are killing these innocent Muslims? It shouldn't even be a concern since nobody is terrorizing THEM. Again, priorities (not numbers).

It doesn't sound like you read the posts. No one is advocating doing anything, violent or not, to any Muslim. Someone stereotyping someone in their own head, but not acting on it, pales in comparison to what Westerners have to worry about.
I think we should eradicate all under 30 something, white, Christian males who own guns because they're the ones conducting mass shootings. I mean, how do you KNOW which ones are going to grow up to shoot up a playground or cinema?

I know, I know, that's a couple million young men, but it's about priorities and keeping us all safe.

It's called hyperbole, and is a way of getting a message across.

I am reading the posts, and the problem is not the posts. It's he general message that it's okay to hate on an entire religion because of a few. It is the ignorant and inflammatory way of thinking that ends up clouding day to day life, and escalates to fear, hatred, and beyond. It's what leads countries to war, or huge injustices to humanity (I won't reference another historical us vs them argument, which people so quickly seem to ignore). One need only look at half the memes on Facebook (why really should be a fairly lighthearted slice of life to begin with) to see the seed has long been planted on us vs them. I'm not worried about comments on DCUM, or an entire thread, I'm worried about the seed it plants that makes it okay to some people to spawn misinformation and hatred.

Sorry didn't finish. If you think Westerners have so much to worry about, consider what innocent Muslims are enduring at the hands of what Westereners believe to be their own brethren. We are not living in war zones, having our children potentially bombed. Yes, there are discrete terrorist attacks - but they are no less under attack than we are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about we take these terrorists on their word? They say they are doing it for Allah. I say we believe them.

just like all those times wars were waged for God

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about we take these terrorists on their word? They say they are doing it for Allah. I say we believe them.

I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is your applying what they say about themselves to all other Muslims.

ISIS has been very clear in its propaganda that one of its goals is to erase the "gray area" that exists between Muslims and the West. Communists use to call this "heightening the contradictions". They want to cause Muslims to choose between groups like ISIS and the West and the more that the West demonstrates that it is anti-Islamic, the more likely Muslims will be to choose ISIS. So, all of you who believe that blaming the entire religion is an acceptable or useful strategy are actually playing into the hands of ISIS. I doubt that is what you want to do. The best strategy is to focus your anger and hatred like a laser on that small number of Muslims behind this atrocity while making it clear to all other Muslims that you do not blame them. That would demonstrate clearly to ISIS that it's strategy has failed.

+1 Absolutely, but let's do it! I don't feel that our govt leaders have taken a strong enough stance. Too often, they sound like professors discussing a situation from afar.