The Telegraph reports that the European Union "has drawn up guidelines advising government spokesmen to refrain from linking Islam and terrorism in their statements." The EU suggests that in place of "Islamic terrorism" one should say "terrorists who abusively invoke Islam". You probably thought that this was an April Fool's post, but it isn't. This is a real story. The EU really thinks that there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism. This is, of course, a completely untenable position. Dozens of terrorists have explicitly said that they are Muslims and that their motivation was Islam. Moreover, there is clearly widespread support among Muslims for terrorism.We can't really justify quoting any more of this under fair use, so make sure you click through for a second and third serving of red meat. Self-styled liberal sophisticates get all kinds of affirmation from academics who make absolutely no sense when they support their position - why should you be denied a fix when there's one out there who happens to make sense and be right? Not that this'll help in any way - it's not like anyone who doesn't think that some Muslims claim to be terrorists in the name of Islam will be swayed by good argumentation. That's not what brought them to their position, so it's certainly not what's going to disrupt it.
To take but one example, here are the results of a 2006 poll of Muslims as to whether they agreed that suicide bombings against civilians are sometimes or often justified... A poll of Palestinian Arabs found that 73% supported suicide attacks against American interests, a finding confirmed by the widely televised celebration of 9/11 in the West Bank and Lebanon.
[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]
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