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| Europe |
| EU: Don't confuse terrorism with Islam |
| 2007-03-30 |
| HT: LGF The European Union has drawn up guidelines advising government spokesmen to refrain from linking Islam and terrorism in their statements. Brussels officials have confirmed the existence of a classified handbook which offers "non-offensive" phrases to use when announcing anti-terrorist operations or dealing with terrorist attacks. Banned terms are said to include "jihad", "Islamic" or "fundamentalist". Ban the words, and the things they refer to disappear? Neat! The word "jihad" is to be avoided altogether, according to some sources, because for Muslims the word can mean a personal struggle to live a moral life. Depends on what you mean by "moral"... One alternative, suggested publicly last year, is for the term "Islamic terrorism" to be replaced by "terrorists who abusively invoke Islam". "Abusively invoke Islam"??? As in screaming "Allahu Akhbar!! when they slit your throat???" Dear God... An EU official said that the secret guidebook, or, "common lexicon", is aimed at preventing the distortion of the Muslim faith and the alienation of Muslims in Europe. Got bad news for you: Muslims are "pre-alienated". "The common lexicon includes guidance on a number of frequently used terms where lack of care by EU and member states' spokespeople may give rise to misunderstandings," he said. "Careful usage of certain terms is not about empty political correctness but stems from astute awareness of the EU's interests in the fight against terrorism. "Terrorists exploit and augment suspicions." No, terrorists exploit and augment weakness-- like this happy horseshit. Details on the contents of the lexicon remain secret, but British officials stressed that it is there as a helpful aid "providing context" for civil servants making speeches or giving press conferences. "We are fully signed up to this, but it is not binding," said one. However, Conservative MEP Syed Kamall hit out at the lexicon. "It is this kind of political correctness and secrecy that creates resentment among both the mainstream in Europe and in Islam," he said. Meanwhile, UK Independence Party MEP Gerard Batten claimed that the EU was in denial over the true roots of terrorism. "This type of newspeak shows that the EU refuses to face reality," he said. "The major world terrorist threat is one posed by ideology and that ideology is inspired by fundamentalist jihadi Islam." I think we need a new category here at Rantburg: call it "Circling the Drain", or maybe "Not With A Bang But A Whimper" or something like that. Poor bastards, they're doomed. |
| Posted by:Dave D. |
| #19 Appeasement writ large. Chamberlain would be so proud. I'll second the Newspeak observations. Right about now, George Orwell should be topping out at around 10,000 RPMs. When clean-up time comes, people who collaborated (and I do mean collaborated), on this tract of treason and other crapulence like it should be trotted off to the nearest lamp post for a brief aerial view of things. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-30 21:26 |
| #18 Don't confuse terrorism with Islam Don't worry, I'm not a bit confused. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-03-30 20:53 |
| #17 No problem, EU, I'm not confused about terrorism and islam |
| Posted by: Vortigern Ulomorong9673 2007-03-30 18:43 |
| #16 Don't confuse the EU with Western civilization. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2007-03-30 15:55 |
| #15 Damn straight. Terrorism is a symptom. Islam is the disease. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-03-30 15:27 |
| #14 "We are fully signed up to this, but it is not binding." Hmmm...Does anyone see a pattern here? |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2007-03-30 14:49 |
| #13 In fairness, I get the feeling these people are desperately attempting to avoid the kind of sectarian violence that we are seeing in Iraq now between Sunnis and Shias. Only in Europe it would be between muzzies and their post-christian hosts and on a far more massive scale, more like the holocaust of WWII. The problem is they might already be past the point of no return. If I was a muzzie I would think seriously about that because, as wimpy as they look to us now, the Europeans have a long history of extreme violence and it wouldn't be the first time that muzzies have been on the losing end of it. They all got righteously indignant about Slobodan Milosevic but if push comes to shove the Germans, French, Spanish and others have all proven many times over that they can be even worse. Nobody in their right mind wants it and all this PC bullshit is just a shaky, unrealistic attempt to keep a lid on it in the hope that someday the more "fundamentalist" elements will mellow out. |
| Posted by: Elmereter Hupash6222 2007-03-30 14:22 |
| #12 The European Union has drawn up guidelines advising government spokesmen to refrain from linking Islam and terrorism in their statements. Next step: guidelines on how to avoid Thought Crime. Meanwhile, UK Independence Party MEP Gerard Batten claimed that the EU was in denial over the true roots of terrorism. "This type of newspeak shows that the EU refuses to face reality, Glad to see someone really gets Orwell. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2007-03-30 13:37 |
| #11 Inbred cluelessness. The European Union is doomed, either to dhimmitude or self-destruction. The Eastern European nations might want to opt out now, and take the economic pounding before they're totally destroyed from within. We also need to start weeding out NATO "partners" with no military capability to even stand up for themselves any better than the Belgians in 1940. What was that, "History repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce."? Let's see - 1914-1918, 1939-1945, 2007-????. This time, let's defeat their enemies, but leave the rebuilding bill to THEM. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-03-30 13:23 |
| #10 My gawd. Well at least NATO's expeditionary units now have some general guidance about how to treat any jihadis whose bomb-belts malfunction, etc. Whatever you do, my gawd man don't use a term that might be misunderstood and cause "suspicions". |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-03-30 13:15 |
| #9 Whose the real enemy, anyway? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-03-30 12:36 |
| #8 Islam may not be linked with terrorism, but terrorism is most certainly linked with Islam. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-03-30 12:09 |
| #7 Sorry. They didn't say "please"... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-30 11:41 |
| #6 "terrorists who abusively invoke Islam" Funny how you can also tell when an English-language phrase was originally coined in French. So, what does the manual say I should call "treasonous cunts"? |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-03-30 11:26 |
| #5 Let's ban the term "Europe" and "EU" then too. How about "War". Even "Slavery". There. All gone! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-03-30 11:19 |
| #4 You mean islam is not linked with the jihadist fudamentalist ragheads (extreme sarcasm). |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-03-30 11:12 |
| #3 Please refrain from any of these other 2600 terms as well... http://www.rsdb.org/?2 If you find yourself not on the list, maybe you just don't exist... |
| Posted by: Capsu 78 2007-03-30 11:10 |
| #2 ??? |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2007-03-30 11:08 |
| #1 Oh, my mistake? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-03-30 11:01 |