Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims

by Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
January 2008

https://www.legal-project.org/147/terminology-to-define-the-terrorists

Excerpt:

TERMINOLOGY TO DEFINE THE TERRORISTS:

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM AMERICAN MUSLIMS

Words matter. The terminology that senior government officials use must accurately identify the nature of the challenges that face our generation. It is critical that all Americans properly understand the gravity of the threats we face, and prepare themselves to take the steps necessary to build a secure future. We are facing an enemy that holds a totalitarian ideology, and seeks to impose that ideology through force across the globe. We must resist complacency. The language that senior government officials use can help to rally Americans to vigilance.

At the same time, the terminology should also be strategic - it should avoid helping the terrorists by inflating the religious bases and glamorous appeal of their ideology. One of the most common concerns expressed by Muslims in America, and indeed the West, is that senior government officials and commentators in the mass media regularly indict all Muslims for the acts of a few. They argue that terminology can create either a negative climate, in which acts of harassment or discrimination occur; or, by contrast, a positive climate, such as President Bush's remarks while visiting a mosque in the days after 9/11.

If senior government officials carefully select strategic terminology, the government's public statements will encourage vigilance without unintentionally undermining security objectives. That is, the terminology we use must be accurate with respect to the very real threat we face. At the same time, our terminology must be properly calibrated to diminish the recruitment efforts of extremists who argue that the West is at war with Islam.

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